In September, a young woman from Canada took to Facebook to share the horrific aftermath of having her eyeball tattooed by her then-boyfriend, who is a tattooist.
Now, almost three months later and Catt Gallinger is considering having her entire eyeball removed in a bid to be rid of the extreme pain she is currently going through.
When 24-year-old Catt from Ottawa, Canada, first got the tattoo on her right eyeball – a tattoo procedure known as sclera tattooing – she says that shortly after, her eye started leaking purple ink, causing her immense pain.
Over the following weeks, her eye continued to swell, become infected and, following three stints in hospital, Catt was told she may lose her eye.
Opening up to TIME, Catt says the ordeal has seriously impacted her mental health.
“At its worst, it’s like having a migraine and then also being punched in the face at the same time. It’s taken a big toll on my mental health.”
She also went on to say that her boyfriend at the time made many errors while colouring eye – something she had been “interested” in doing, so that she could contrast the purple ink with her green eye.
According to Catt, her ex-boyfriend didn’t mix the ink with salin, used a large needle instead of a small one, consequentially needling too deep into her eye. Instead of small doses, Catt was given one large injection.
Two doctors who have examined Catt’s eye say that the mixture inserted into her eye was contaminated with bacteria.
As Catt awaits possible sedated surgery on her eye to remove the ink – a procedure that still won’t be able to repair the damage done to Catt’s vision and corneas – she is slowly losing hope for her eye.
“I’m very close to asking for removal.. I’m so tired of it all,” she reveals.
It makes sense then that the tattooed model says she doesn’t think that having your eye tattooed is worth the risk – not until it is made a cosmetic procedure by trained surgeons.
“Fact is, no-one knows exactly all the risks,” she says. “I don’t think it’s worth the risk and I don’t think anyone has the required information on the anatomy of the eye to being doing this.”
