Eyeball tattooing: Regulating 'extreme' procedure is 'dangerous', says tattoo artist with the modification
One of the few people in Australia with her eyeballs tattooed says she is shocked the procedure has been regulated and is concerned about the ramifications.
The Baird Government has come under fire for regulating the practice of eyeball tattooing.
The New South Wales Opposition called for a ban on the procedure, saying eyeball inking was effectively legalised when it was included in several health amendments enacted last Friday.
The Government said all skin piercing procedures should be regulated, but is considering banning this particular procedure.
Kylie Garth is a tattoo artist and piercer in Perth and had her eyeballs tattooed three years ago in Melbourne by one of the few known artists, Luna Cobra.
"We don't even have gay marriage, but you're legalising an eyeball tattoo, why is this even happening?" she told the ABC.
"The health department has been 'yeah this is cool', it means any piercer can do it.
"It's the top of body modification. It's nothing like tattooing, it's not a machine, it's very different, it's extreme ... it's dangerous."
Garth, who has worked alongside Cobra when clients undergo the procedure, said it was a rarely practiced, specialised technique, and there were many risks involved.
"I haven't heard of anyone going blind like the mod community [but] I'm sure backyard people have done it and maybe caused too much pressure or gone into the wrong part," she said.
"There [are] so many risks ... what about someone using a dirty needle, or the wrong kind of stuff?"
Cobra has been credited for pioneering the procedure and travels the world performing body modification.
He weighed in on the regulation debate, saying there are bigger health issues to be addressed.
He told the ABC he has eye-tattooed fewer than 10 people in Australia since 2007.
"You know this is a rouse ... it's absolutely ridiculous, there's so many other problems facing Australian public health and we're talking about something one person who does it per year."
'People are blind from eyeball tattooing'
Cobra warns on his website he is the inventor of eyeball tattooing and has "not trained anyone else to do this procedure".He writes he has inspired many copycats and because of that "people are now blind from eyeball tattooing".
Eyeball tattooing involves injecting the whites of the eyes with coloured dye or dyes.
Garth said she liked the aesthetics and there was "never a risk factor" with Cobra.
But she said the experience was scary, like undergoing a medical procedure or extreme sports.
"I liken it to skydiving — I knew it was safe, but it's always scary," she said.
"But it wasn't very painful, it felt like a bit of pressure then slight irritation. It's less painful than plucking your eyebrows."
A fan of modification, Garth has also had her tongue split, ears pointed, scarification and other modifications to her body.
Eyeball inking is permanent, she said.
"That is why it's so intense. When you go to Luna for the procedure, he'll be like 'what kind of job do you do, will this affect you later in life?'
"He's patient and makes you think. But just a piercer doing it, with no outlook on life goals, that's dangerous."
