A Canadian woman faces the terrifying prospect of having her eyeball taken out after her vision failed to restore in the weeks following a botched tattoo procedure.
Catt Gallinger - a tattoo and piercing enthusiast - wrote a post in September about the incident, which left her in pain, crying purple tears and with a swollen eye that'd been rendered totally blind.
- Mark Cropp to keep 'DEVAST8' facial tattoo
- Woman's face covered in tattoo inspired by sci-fi film
- Temuka man beats smoking addiction with tattoos
She claims she felt forced into having the sclera tattoo - a tattoo on the whites of the eye - by her then-boyfriend.
"The artist, my ex-boyfriend, just kept pushing me until I got it done that night," she explained to Vice.
"We were only together for a month but I've known him for years. It was something I thought I could trust him with because he had a portfolio. I was wrong."
Ms Gallinger says he did not take the appropriate precautions before launching into the tattoo.
"He did not dilute the ink with saline, he just put pure ink in my eye. He used a very large needle and went too deep," she explained.
Ms Gallinger had surgery on November 23, and explained in the lead-up that if it didn't work, her cornea would be too thin and at risk of rupturing. She said if the surgery was unsuccessful, which it was, she'd lose her eye.
In a series of social media posts, Ms Gallinger said she could now have it taken out altogether.
"My hope is gone. I'm very close to asking for removal," she wrote, though it is not sure if she has yet.
New Zealand eye doctors have called for sclera tattooing to be banned here because of the dangers involved with the procedure.
Newshub.
