New cosmetic laser technology can turn brown eyes blue

[Richard B Riddick]

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. (KTLA) -- If you've always wanted blue eyes, but have brown instead, there might be something you can do to change that.

A doctor in Laguna Beach called Stroma Medical says it can use laser technology to change brown eyes to blue -- permanently -- without damaging vision.

Dr. Gregg Homer has been working on the technology for 10 years.

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Homer says it is possible because even brown-eyed people have blue eyes underneath the brown layer of pigment.

"We use a laser, and it's tuned to a specific frequency to remove the pigment from the surface of the iris," Homer tells KTLA. The procedure takes about 20 seconds.

When laser energy is absorbed by the eye's brown pigment, Homer says the pigment tissue changes and then the body sheds the altered tissue, changing brown eyes to blue within two to three weeks.

The brown tissue never regenerates.

Homer says tests have shown no signs of tissue damage.

He still has another year of research to complete on the procedure.

Researchers believe the procedure will be available outside the United States in 18 months, and in the U.S. in three years.

It will cost about $5,000.

Homer says thousands of people have already emailed him expressing interest.

"They eyes are the windows to the soul," he says.

"A blue eye is not opaque, you can see deeply into it, and a brown eye is very opaque. I think there is something very meaningful about this idea of having open windows to the soul."

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-brown-eyes-blue,0,7541425.story

 

[Will Graham]

Not really surprising, it's odd no one has thought of doing it till now I guess. The idea is very simple, you could also get green or grey eyes if you wanted I suppose. I doubt many people will use it though, contact lenses would be much better. I would imagine way cheaper, and you always have the option to be brown eyed again if you want

 

[Lirael]

I don't know why people would want to change things like that about themselves... For one, brown eyes are usually gorgeous, but more importantly, people need to learn to respect and like who they are physically rather than constantly being encouraged to change their appearance. There's a lot of self-loathing going on in this world at the moment.

Also, it would cost a lot of money... so as My Manic has said, contact lenses would be better.

 

[Donald Trump]

This is very good news, I've always thought that brunettes looked much better with blue eyes than nasty common brown eyes.
The only bad news is that people might try to create a race of people that looked like the master race with this new technology. Instead they should be trying to create the master race through breeding.

 

[Kandy-Sugar]

I wish these people would start figuring out ways to stop the aging process and quit playing around with meaningless cosmetic surgery crap!

Anyway this is neat and all but I'd really like to know why it would cost $5000 if the procedure only takes 20 seconds?

Even if I did have brown eyes I wouldn't be fussed with this at all.

 

[Lirael]

Anyway this is neat and all but I'd really like to know why it would cost $5000 if the procedure only takes 20 seconds?

Essentially you're paying for all of the research which led to this... You're paying for the equipment, which no doubt costs 1000s, and for the skill of those who are qualified; they'll take what they can get for it.

 

[Kandy-Sugar]

I sound like just another one of those annoying customers who doesn't understand the reasoning behind the pricing. XD

It still seems pretty expensive, though like you said, they can charge what they want, especially considering it's new.

There are people willing to pay that for this sort of thing sadly. =/