Because Howie (lunacobra.net) did my eyes in a hazy style, with a lot of marbling and transparency, you can see the way the tattoos change over time in my eyes more than in some of the ultra-solid eyes. It’s amazing to me how different my eyes look from day to day because of the way the ink moves around, and also on how slowly the entire eye has become more and more blue (in the early days parts were still only white)… I guess that subtle variations in the way I hold my head over the previous day, or perhaps absent-minded eye rubbing, and other factors cause the ink to move around. Sometimes the coverage is quite even, and sometimes it’s high contrast, almost blue-black in spots. One of my favorite bits that illustrates this well is the top of the iris, where you can see the ink pools, since gravity and pressure pushes it down, but then it hits the limbus barrier and stops. You can see that clearly in the top two pictures.

This modification has a good shot in the running to by my favorite modification of all time, both on myself and on others.

Speaking of blue eyes, Johnny Villonius just posted a picture of his blue eye, which he’s had for quite a long time (below), and you’ll note that he has a similar cloudiness in his. This should be expected (although it’s far from guarantee’d) in any eye that’s done lightly. Personally it’s my favorite look, and is the most subtle as well (to say nothing of being safer). I’d recommend doing this sort of look to most people as a “first step” which may or may not remain final. It’s quite possible to darken it with a second session. Anyway, I find that while I get constant compliments on my eyes, very few people realize it’s a tattoo. Most believe it’s natural, or even just say “you have the most amazing eyes”, but seem to not know why, as if their brain is seeing the blue, but their conscious mind refuses to acknowledge it. I find that when people give me compliments on it, when I mention that it’s a tattoo, that they often switch from loving it to being disturbed.

There’s an incredibly eerie look to black tattooed eyes, especially when paired with dark eye make-up. Alex Honda demonstrates this very well in this getup. The eyes were performed by Emilio Gonzalez. Don’t forget to check out The Eyeball Tattoo FAQ for more info!

Mary Jo just had Brazil’s Rafael Leão Dias finish her other eye, injecting both of them with red… It’s an interesting color, because unlike tattooing your eyes black or green or just about any other color, no one is ever going to look at you and think you tattooed your eyes — in some ways it reminds me of the guy that got hyper-realistic road-rash tattooed on his face (one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen by the way) because she will forever be freaking out people on a whole different level than everyone else with tattooed eyeballs! I’m sure it’s both very fun and very tiresome dealing with the questions.

Red is perhaps the most volatile color of tattoo ink, so I’ll be keeping watch on how her eyes progress. One important thing to understand as well is that the majority of tattoo pigments — red especially — are not completely long-term stable in the body, so even when they appear safe in the short term, as they break down over time significant problems can occur since there’s no way to remove either the ink or any chemical compounds it breaks down into. If you get your eyes tattooed in your teens, that ink has to stay there for a long, long time still. I do think it looks stunning, but it’s not a gamble I’m comfortable with personally. Of course, it’s not as if my blue ink is considered safe for use in eyes according to the MSDS data either so my worry is a little hypocritical!

When tattooing with red ink, especially in the eye, it’s extremely important to be aware of what’s in the ink, because there are a variety of compounds that can create a red ink — iron oxide (rust basically), naphthol (arguably the safest option), pyrazolone (an organic compound), cadmium red (a toxic compound common to paint), and cinnabar (which is mercury based, and also toxic). Unfortunately sometimes because the more toxic compounds give a stronger color and sometimes because they’re cheaper, it’s not uncommon to find them in tattoo inks, although it’s becoming more rare. If you want to do some research for yourself, most higher quality red inks are a mix of Pigment Red 210 C.I.# 12477 (naphthol), Pigment Yellow 65 C.I. #11740 (2-[(4-methoxy-2-nitrophenyl)azo]-N-(2-methoxyphenyl)-3-oxo-Butanamide), Pigment Orange 13 C.I. #21110 (pyrazolone), and Titanium Oxide C.I. #77891, depending on the specific tone — as well as glycerine, witch hazel, various alcohols or even just listerine, various acrylic resins, and water. None of these compounds (with the exception of water) are considered safe in the eye — although they are generally stable compounds. The only ink which has been validated as truly “safe” in the eye is — and this may come as a surprise — classic India Ink.

And see also the Eyeball Tattoo FAQ of course.

Over five years since tattooing a small part of my eye blue in the very first set of eye tattoo procedures — the day that opened Pandora’s Box and launched perhaps the riskiest but most exciting body mod procedure to date — Howie (LunaCobra.net) has done the next and perhaps final stage of my eye tattoos. As you may know, my blue eyes are at least in part inspired by the Eyes of Ibad that the Fremen of Arrakis (ie. Dune) get due to their constant exposure to the powerful drug melange. Normally when Howie does an eye tattoo, the wearer is looking for a solid color — although there are obvious exceptions like Pauly Unstoppable’s unbelievable “cosmic eyes” which involve complex gradients. In my eyes we went with the “less is more” theory, using the fact that ink injected in the eye spreads dramatically to create a hazy, cloudy effect that looks different from every angle, mostly quite subtle, but almost blue-black in a few deeply saturated spots. The eye is both subtle and extreme, in an effect that’s completely alien, yet maintains its humanity and is almost even normal — I’ve noticed in public that people seem unsure what they’re seeing, whether it’s natural, or a trick of the light, or something induced.

The effect will probably continue to change somewhat over the next several months. These pictures in this entry were taken on day three, about 48 hours after the procedure, and at that point all swelling and irritation was already long gone — in fact it was gone 12 hours later, or when I woke up the next morning. I believe this is in part Howie’s experience, and in part how light we went with the procedure. I truly believe that with eye tattoos, it’s important to err on the side of going light — you can always add more in a few months (or in five years) if you went light, but if you go heavy, well, you’re going to have to live with it.

Remember, if you are interested in eye tattoos, these are a high-risk procedure that should only be attempted by those with significant experience and training. Please begin by reading BME’s Eye Tattoo FAQ.