WARNING: Some may find the images disturbing
OTTAWA, Ontario – A Canadian woman posted graphic images of her eye leaking purple dye after she says a risky tattoo on her eyeball that may leave her partially blind.
Catt Gallinger, a 24-year-old body modification enthusiast from Ottawa, is trying to warn others after getting a “scleral tattoo,” which consists of injecting ink into the white part of the eyeball.
Gallinger, who has a forked tongue, piercings and tattoos, has undergone painful procedures before, but she wrote on Facebook that immediately after the tattoo was done on Sep. 5, purple dye began streaming down her face, and her eye was swollen shut the next day.
“I took my eyesight for granted and trusted someone I shouldn’t have,” she said in a video posted Monday. “And even if this heals, my eyesight is not going to be back.”
Gallinger told Global News that she knows multiple people who have tattooed scleras and haven’t had an issue, but she says the person who did hers was unqualified and pushed her to do it until she “gave in.”
“During the first two weeks, he kept telling me it was fine, but I had a feeling that it wasn’t normal,” she said.
Now, Gallinger says she’s considering legal action and thinks the artist used the wrong needle, which forced undiluted dye too deep into her eye, according to CTV News.
Gallinger is currently meeting with specialists and says she’s had several trips to the hospital after the tattoo caused a “hemorrhage and sclera tearing.”
She says her vision is blurry and she sees double. Because of the location of the tattoo, there is only so much doctors will be able to do.
“You can’t laser it away like you can on your skin,” Dr. Setareh Ziai, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at the University of Ottawa Eye Institute told Global News. “No physician in their right mind would ever recommend this to anyone.”
Gallinger said she is starting to accept that she will never have her vision fully restored. There is also a possibility that the eye may have to be removed if ink moves to the retina, causing nerve damage. “As far as I’m being told right now, I will be able to keep my eye,” she said.
Now, she says she’s asking for help spreading her story so others don’t end up in a similar situation.
“Just please be cautious who you get your mods from and do your research,” she posted on Facebook. “I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”
