Woman Who Got Her Eyeballs Tattooed Blue And Purple After Being Inspired By Alternative Model Amber Luke (AKA The “Blue Eyed Dragon”) — Reveals She Is Losing Her Sight
By Sidra Lackey
Anaya Peterson, a 32 year old law student from Belfast is facing permanent blindness. She was hospitalized after a suspected reaction to tattoo ink she got tattooed in her eyeballs, Daily Mail reports in, “Mother who tattooed her eyeballs blue and purple to copy an influencer admits she's losing her sight - after her daughter, 7, warned her she would.”
Peterson says ironically, ''My daughter told me that I didn't want to do that [the tattoo] asking, 'what if you go blind?' She wasn't on board with it at all.” Peterson got her right eyeball tattooed blue in July 2020 and “despite dealing with headaches and dry eyes as 'part of the healing process' ” decided to get her left eye tattooed purple in December 2020. After months without complications, she woke up in August last year with, “ 'swollen' eyelids as though her 'face had been inflated with air' and looking like she'd done 'five rounds with Mike Tyson.' ” The swelling continued to get worse and worse so Peterson checked herself into the hospital's A&E ward after prescribed antibiotics did nothing to reduce the 'severe inflammation'. Peterson had 'medication given through a drip' for three days, before having a biopsy performed on her problematic eyeball the following day. She has been told by ophthalmologists that she is now, “at a very high risk of contracting glaucoma, and her eyesight is already worsening, with her vision clouded by 'hundreds of thousands of floaters' ” Daily Mail further reports.
“I don't have 20/20 vision anymore. From a distance I can't see features on faces.
If I didn't have my eyeballs tattooed, I wouldn't be having this problem. Even today I woke up with more floaters in my eyes. And that is dangerous,” Peterson tells Daily Mail in an interview. “I can't get these eye tattoos out. I'm always going to have this problem. So, I basically think that as I get older, it's just best to let me go blind.” Although Peterson left the hospital surgery 'on the mend', the ordeal has her regretting her choice to follow in the footsteps of alternative model Amber Luke. “If I could go back in time, I would have done one black [eye tattoo] and left it. I would have done one black. Absolutely. I was just going to get one [eye tattoo] at first because I thought that if I go blind, at least I've got the other eye. I should have stuck with that,” Peterson reflects.
Influencer Amber Luke, is an Australian model known in full as the “Blue Eyed White Dragon” who got her eyeballs inked blue in 2019 — before going temporarily blind for three weeks. She is the person Peterson was inspired by in getting her own eyes tattooed with blue ink. Luke talked to Daily Mail about the negative impact of her “blue-dyed eyes” in her day to day life, saying she, “faces discrimination in public and in the workplace” as a result of her alternative look. She has spent an estimation of $250,000 on tattoos, piercings and surgery to achieve it. Luke has urged people to make, “informed decisions” before undertaking the body altering procedure she did. “I would highly recommend and suggest that you do immense research. Make sure you ask the artist's botched rate - the procedures that went wrong. I personally would also recommend mentally preparing yourself for seeing a needle go into your eyeball. The anxiety is high as hell,” she cautions.
As for Anaya Peterson, she is currently being supported by her university and is being provided with applications to make reading easier, as well as counseling, according to Daily Mail. She is also, “maintaining a positive mindset” despite the negative comments she receives online about her alternative appearance. “You have positive comments and negative comments, but the negative comments always overshadow the positive ones.” Peterson seems to have learned her lesson as she says, “It was traumatizing to go through. I just remember thinking, I'm not doing that sh*t again, with the eye tattoo. I'm definitely not doing that sh*t again.”
Tattooing one’s eyeballs a color is beyond extreme and seems like it would be the one (or two) off limit body part(s) to not tattoo because… you don’t want to go blind! Sure, colored eyeballs do aesthetically look cool but they’re not worth having if you can’t see out of them in the end. Tattoo collectors, would you ever in a million years consider tattooing the inside of your eyes colors? Tattoo artists, have you ever had an eyeball request? Is the eyeball a no-brainer as a body part you won’t tattoo?