Catt Gallinger, a 24-year–old Ottawa–born former pet nutritionist risks losing an eye weeks after she received a sclera tattoo, a body modification procedure that involves tattooing the eyeball.

In a series of posts and videos she shared on Facebook, Gallinger who has already lost full vision as a result said body modification has always been a part of her life but was persuaded into undergoing the procedure after learning that several others had undergone same under the same person.

“I have a lot of friends who have had it done and it worked for them. I’m not jumping on the bandwagon or anything, but body modification is part of my life. I had been thinking about doing it for a while,” Gallinger, who is covered in tattoos and has had her tongue surgically split told reporters.

Gallinger probably did not do her home work well before deciding to have the tattoo done by an unqualified professional on September 5, until weeks later when the tattoo refused to heal unlike the ones she had seen from her friends.

It was at this point she decided to reach out to other tattoo artists around the world who made her see the high risk situation and advised her to see a professional doctor who in turn referred her to a specialist.

“The reason they’d remove my eye is because once the ink moves to the retina, it will cause nerve damage. But next week, we‘ll be discussing surgical options to have the excess ink taken out.

 

“It will never fully recover. I’II need at least glasses for the rest of my life, and if the ink solidifies, there’s a possibility it could get worse,” she added.

 

It was discovered that the artist had made several mistakes, including over – injecting her eye, failing to dilute the ink with saline, using a needle that was too big and going too deep into her eye during the procedure.

 

In addition, she was not asked to sign a waiver nor was she warned of the risks and implications, which were some of the basis Gallinger says she would be pressing charges of criminal negligence.

 

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