If There’s A Sparkle In Her Eyes, It Could Be Platinum

If you thought silicone gel implant or body piercing is super cool, think again. The latest rage is eye bling and you can put a beautifully shaped platinum charm right into your eye that will bring a rare sparkle every time it catches the light. It hasn’t happened in India yet, but a clinic in Manhattan has recently done it and the implant has been a success, says ABCNews.com.

Dr Emil Chynn, medical director of Park Avenue Laser Vision, has surgically implanted a small platinum heart into the right eye of Lucy Luckayanko. The surgery cost $3,000 and Chynn operated in front of a floor-to-ceiling glass window – so that anyone could see it from the street. It’s not the first time either, according to media reports. The procedure has been done hundreds of times in Europe and even in Los Angeles. Best of all, the eye jewellery (it’s called Safesight jewellery) is removable but you will require a doctor’s help to do it.

But can it hurt your eyesight? Not really, since it’s a very thin piece of platinum that’s designed for insertion into the white of the eye and there’s no risk of blindness or anything like that, says Chynn. “There could be a little bit of local bleeding. That could go away in a couple days or couple weeks. If there’s an infection, we’ll prevent that with antibiotics,” Fox 5 quoted him as saying.

Also known as extraocular implant, it is a 15-minute procedure that starts with an injection to numb the area and a speculum is put in to keep the eye open. Next, a licensed ophthalmologist makes an incision with a small scissor in the interpalpebral conjunctiva – the eye’s transparent outer membrane. A wafer-thin platinum charm is then slipped through the incision into the white part of the eye.

In the European markets, charms are available in a number of shapes including hearts, stars, half-moons, four-leaf clovers, Euro signs or even musical notes.

But just be careful – the eye jewellery has not been approved by the U.S. FDA yet and the American Academy of Ophthalmology is warning consumers about potential dangers. “The American Academy of Ophthalmology has not identified sufficient evidence to support the safety or therapeutic value of this procedure,” the AAO said in a statement, warning of complications including blindness from ocular infection or bleeding, bleeding beneath the conjunctiva, perforation of the eye and conjunctivitis.

However, the Netherlands Institute for Innovative Ocular Surgery (NIIOS) has given it a clean chit of health. Branded as JewelEye, these purely cosmetic implants were first developed at NIIOS back in 2002, using a technique used for controlled drug delivery in glaucoma patients. “In my view, it is a little more subtle than (body) piercing,” NIIOS director Gerrit Melles said in a statement. “It is a bit of a fun thing and a very personal thing for people.”

Well, it’s definitely cheaper in the Netherlands as the procedures start at $1,100 there.

Would you like to give it a try the next time you are vacationing in the US or Europe? Of course, hipsters love to opt for everything that is new and trendy. But just remember an eye bling may not be suitable for everyone. Check with your ophthalmologist before you try out any cosmetic implant.

Image: NIIOS