Changing eye coloring is possible, but it is a risk that can have serious consequences and is not recommended.

A few decades ago, one of the favored cosmetic changes that people were beginning to utilize was in the area of contact lenses that could change the color of someone's eyes. People with brown eyes wanted green eyes, and people with blue eyes wanted brown eyes, and it was all possible.

Even bizarre changes afforded by these contact lenses could be yours for the payment. Rock stars supported the increasing interest in these highly unusual, unnatural eye changes. Anyone who was a fan of Marilyn Manson, will recall how he changed his look with contacts.

But the wish for eye color changes and bizarre patterns didn't stop with placing a contact lens in the eye. Now, people are looking for a more permanent solution that can bring a wretched set of circumstances their way in terms of vision. Since the eyes are such a prominent and riveting feature of the face, anything that changes them immediately attracts attention, such as when someone gets permanent eyeliner.

Before anyone makes such a drastic change with the agreement of a qualified ophthalmologist when there is no medical necessity for it, they should be fully informed of what might happen. Not every medical procedure goes as planned; when something happens that will affect your vision, it is more than serious. You may become blind and disabled. Is your vision worth taking that chance? Vision is precious, and we should do everything we can to protect it.

Experience with lasers that corrected the shape of the cornea has provided us with information that contradicts much of the advertising for this procedure. There are many lawsuits that have been initiated after people had laser eye surgery that resulted in blurred vision, night driving problems, and even semi-blindness. If that isn't enough to make you consider or reconsider anything you're having done to your eyes surgically, I don't know what is.

I know of at least two large LASIK practices where the standard of care was treated with great disregard. One physician had an unlicensed man perform the next-day surgery check-up. The other extremely large practice had many patients sue his practice because they had worse vision after the procedure. All of the lawsuits were quietly settled, and the practices continued, I am assuming, with new safeguards. But how do we know? And how do we know that the person doing the procedure is experienced sufficiently and licensed? We make assumptions, and in this case, these assumptions are dangerous.

Does anyone remember the eye procedure that originated, I believe, in Russia and required slicing into the cornea to allow it to align correctly in the eye? It was called radial keratotomy. To address minor myopia, radial keratotomy involved making small incisions in the cornea using a diamond scalpel. Since LASIK has become so popular, this treatment is largely obsolete.

The new eye procedures being touted include types of permanent iris tattooing, dyes being introduced, and even eye drops to change the color of the eye. Any of them can cause problems you were unaware of when you began to either use the product or have the procedure.

What Are the Problems?

Cosmetic iris implant problems may cause:

1. Visual impairment or loss of sight.
   2. Sensitive to light.
   3. Glaucoma that can cause blindness.
   4. Cataract, which is a clouding of the normally clear lens of the eye.
   5. Corneal injury affecting the eye’s ability to concentrate light and see clearly.

6. A corneal transplant could be necessary in extreme cases.
7. Irritation, discomfort, and impaired vision caused by inflammation of the iris and surrounding tissues.

Additional problems that may be created in the iris (the colored portion of the eye) may arise, and they include:

• Damage to the cornea (the eye's windshield) can lead to cloudiness, warpage, fluid leakage, and vision loss.
• Reaction to the dye, which can cause inflammation, uveitis, or blood vessel growth into the cornea
• Bacterial or fungal infection, which can produce corneal scarring and vision loss.
• Uneven distribution of the dye.
• Leakage of the dye into the eye.
• Color fading due to the dye moving or leaking into the eye.

Anyone considering this procedure cannot do it recklessly and without serious, long consideration of the effect it may have on blindness or ongoing eye issues of an increasing nature. Vanity must have certain constraints and this would appear to be right up there in position number one.

Ask yourself one question: what is more important, my eye color or my vision? That must be the bottom line before anyone decides to change the color of their eyes.