A model tattooed her eyeball purple — she may lose her eye

A Canadian model who attempted to have her eyeball “tattooed” purple several months ago now says she is at risk of losing her eye entirely, after months of “excruciating” pain and compromised vision.

Catt Gallinger was already a fan of extreme body modification when, she said, someone offered to stain her eyeball by injecting ink into the white part of her eye. The procedure, called sclera staining, can result in a startling visual effect that has gained popularity recently among those who like altering their bodies in unconventional ways.So Gallinger agreed and chose purple, her favorite color. But on the day of the procedure, something went horribly wrong.

Purple ink oozed out of her eye and trickled down her cheek. The next day, the eye was swollen shut, and eventually became painfully infected. Three weeks later, the internal swelling remained and doctors told her she was at risk of going permanently blind in the affected eye, she said.

Our documentary Erasing Hate is a remarkable story of transformation and redemption. In early 2009, Bryon Widner’s face, neck and hands were covered with intimidating, racist tattoos. It was then he began a series of painful and exten-sive laser tattoo removal procedures – twenty-five treatments over the course of more than a year and a half. But the tattoo removal was just the outward sign of an inner transformation.