Model's eyeball tattoo leaves her partially blind, makes her cry purple tears

Catt Gallinger from Ottawa, Canada considering having her eye removed

A model whose botched eyeball tattoo left her partially blind and cry purple tears has said she was considering having her eye removed.

Catt Gallinger, from Ottawa, Canada, had the white of her eyeball, known as the sclera, injected with dye, Evening Standard reported.

But hours after letting her ex-boyfriend inject purple ink into her left eye, it had swollen shut causing her to partially lose her vision. The 24-year-old body modification enthusiast has suffered severe pain ever since.





Now, after multiple failed treatments to get her eyesight back, Gallinger said she was “very close to asking for removal”.

In an emotional Facebook post last week, she said “my hope is gone”.

Her original Facebook post, containing graphic photos from soon after the procedure, was shared thousands of times when she issued a stark warning to those thinking about body modification: “Just please be cautious who you get your mods from and do your research. I don't want this to happen to anyone else.”

It was shared over 4,000 times.

Gallinger has spoken candidly about the effects of the botched tattoo on her mental health, saying she has experienced severe depression, lost weight and quit modelling.





“There have been a lot of times where I’ve thought, if I have to live like this for the rest of my life, I’d rather get [my eye] taken out,” she said, calling for the tattoos to be banned.

“Even the creator of it [which is largely attributed to body modification artist Luna Cobra] says it should be banned and not performed by anyone but surgeons,” she said. “He regrets inventing the procedure.”



As a result of Gallinger’s experience, the Eye Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (EPSO) are petitioning the provincial government to make scleral tattooing illegal.

In a statement, EPSO said eye injections should only be performed by a licensed medical practitioner.