Surgery that can turn Brown eyes Blue

Surgery that can turn Brown eyes Blue?

        Ever wish you had blue eyes but Mother Nature overlooked you? The eyes are considered the gateway to the soul after all and, though brown eyes are beautiful, they are opaque while blue ones enable you to see deeply into them. Dr. Gregg Homer has designed a surgery to turn these opaque eyes into clear blue ones. "We use a laser, and it's tuned to a specific frequency to remove the pigment from the surface of the iris".  Homer says this turns eyes blue because, underneath the brown pigment, everyone has blue eyes. This procedure simply changes the pigment tissue, causing the body to shed the altered tissue, and allowing the blue pigment to become the top layer- turning the brown eyes to blue within two to three weeks.

Homer has been working on this surgery for 10 years, using 15 different types of tests, to make sure the procedure is safe. So far there have been no side effects except one: it’s permanent. Once you go blue you can never go back. When your body sheds the top layer of cells on your iris, they will never regrow. While this enables your eyes to become blue, it also makes this procedure irreversible. However there are no signs of any tissue damage from this surgery- one of the main worries of the scientific community. When asked about any sign of damage from this surgery Homer replied “There is no sign of it whatsoever (but) is it possible something happens down the road? It is possible.”

Homer still has another year of testing and researching to go. It’s estimated that this procedure will be available outside the U.S. in 18 months and inside in three years.  This procedure is also estimated to cost patients around $5,000.

Will this surgery be popular or even wanted though? Almost definitely. Studies show that about 80% of the human race has brown eyes and that over 17% of these people would make the switch to blue if they could. Already Homer has received thousands of e-mails from possible patients stating why they want to make the switch as well as congratulating him on this discovery. 

But is this surgery the best option? After all there are other ways to change your eye color. Colored contacts, coming in different shades of natural blue and green to crazy white and purple, are a great option. Contacts are not permanent, so if you tire of the color you can buy new ones or let you natural eyes show. They can be bought both at stores such as Bj’s as well as online. A great website that sells colored contacts is http://www.bestcoloredcontacts.com/, they have not only gorgeous natural eye colors (Personally I like the ‘dual tone aqua’ type.), but they also have crazy Halloween-type contacts! (I prefer the ‘black wolf’ and the ‘green devil’ ones.) The price of contacts varies depending on where you buy them- though they normally range from $30 to $50 a pair- and can be worn on average for 14- 30 days (depending on the brand). That means you could buy 100- 167 pairs of contacts for the price of Dr. Gregg Homer’s surgery!

While Homer’s surgery is permanent and takes your body up to three weeks to recover, contacts do not. You can put in and take out contacts at your leisure and can swap them for different colors. Eye color can also be like a tattoo- it’s a cool trend for a few years but when you get older you’ll wish you’d never gotten that potato on your back or that eagle on your arm. In ten years you might loathe your blue eyes and yearn to have your natural brown ones back.

True you could get brown colored contacts, but wouldn’t that surgery then be a complete waste of time and money?

 There are some drawbacks to contacts. They can’t be worn when you have an eye infection and can be rather uncomfortable during allergy season. Some people find poking their eyes weird and gnarly. Contacts are also not good to wear at the beach (sand can scratch them) or to the pool (water can wash them off your eye).  Also, most contacts are not prescription, and the ones that are normally range to a couple hundred dollars a box. Homer’s surgery changes your actual eye color; it won’t matter if you have allergies, get splashed in the face, or sand in your eye...okay maybe it will but that won’t make you go back to your natural brown eyes.

(Homer's surgery on half of a human eye, to show the difference in color)

Details concerning the surgery as well as an interview with Dr. Gregg Homer can be found here à http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/02/brown-eyes-turn-blue-iris_n_1070429.html?1320242812&icid=maing-grid7%7Chp-laptop%7Cdl17%7Csec1_lnk3%7C109432