{"id":35680,"date":"2016-03-08T15:44:27","date_gmt":"2016-03-08T21:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=35680"},"modified":"2016-03-08T15:44:27","modified_gmt":"2016-03-08T21:44:27","slug":"new-technique-changing-eyes-from-brown-to-blue-sparks-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/new-technique-changing-eyes-from-brown-to-blue-sparks-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"New technique changing eyes from brown to blue sparks debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Chencheng Zhao<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cUnderneath every brown eye is a blue eye,\u201d said Gregg Homer, the inventor of the first noninvasive cosmetic surgery that transforms brown eyes to blue by low-energy laser.<\/p>\n

The new procedure, known as Stroma, is raising questions about potential side effects from the technique as well the ethics of performing an elective procedure to change eye color for cosmetic reasons.<\/p>\n

For years, people have changed their eye color with contact lenses and even invasive surgery.
\n<\/p>\n

Now Str\u014dma<\/a> Medical Corp. of Laguna Beach, California, has developed a new technique to change eye color. The company said it has no plans at present to market the technique in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Homer, Str\u014dma’s chairman and chief scientific officer, said 30 patients have been treated so far. He said none of them had suffered any negative effects.<\/p>\n

Stroma, from which the corporation takes its name, is a layer of interlaced tissue in the iris. In dark eyes, the stroma often contains pigment granules, while blue eyes and the eyes of albinos lack pigment.<\/p>\n

Homer said in the surgery, the patient is seated, resting his chin in a little cup and looking at a tiny light when the laser treats the iris. The natural blue eye is revealed in 30 seconds, sometimes left with a \u201climbal ring,\u201d the dark pigment around the outer perimeter of the light iris. , which Str\u014dma\u2019s website compares to the attractiveness of green eyes of Sharbat Gula, the Afghan woman featured on the famed cover of a 1985 issue of National Geographic Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is painless, and there is no recovery time. Patients can immediately drive and work.\u201d Homer said. The total color change takes two-three weeks and is permanent.<\/p>\n

\"In
Partial pigment removal.
In a brown eye, a thin layer of brown pigment covers the anterior iris, preventing light creating an opaque brown iris; in a blue eye, the Str\u014dma fibers of the iris scatter incoming white light, creating a translucent, blue-gray appearance.
The outcome of the surgery is the removal of the brown stromal pigment and the emergence of the underlying natural blue Str\u014dma.
(Photo courtesy of Str\u014dma)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The procedure is currently in clinical trials and not commercially available anywhere in the world. A release date has not yet been determined.<\/p>\n

Homer said the company will treat 100 more patients and follow them for a year before it finally releases the technology. Potential candidates should be 18 and above and are not limited to nationalities or ethnicities.<\/p>\n

Initially, the surgery will be used to change eye color from brown to blue–the \u201csimplest and most sought-after color change,\u201d the company said. It will soon begin testing dark brown to light brown color change, as well as changing hazel or green to blue, which is more complicated and unlikely accomplished with the current laser.<\/p>\n

Dr. Kamran Riaz, director of refractive surgery in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science at the University of Chicago, raised some issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have strong concerns that the risks of this procedure will significantly outweigh any real or imagined benefits,\u201d Riaz said. \u201cI am extremely concerned about the advertising on the company’s website that seems to suggest that not having blue eyes is simply a matter of \u2018extra pigment\u2019 that can easily be removed.\u201d<\/p>\n

He stated his concern about potential risks and harms that can come about with the procedure, such as the destruction of naturally occurring iris pigment that can cause significant inflammation, ocular damage, elevated pigmentary glaucoma and excessive light sensitivity that could, in turn, be potentially disabling.<\/p>\n

Pigmentary glaucoma arises from large pieces of pigments dislodged by abrasion, which increases eye pressure.<\/p>\n

Homer said that pigmentary glaucoma had not proved to be a problem so far.<\/p>\n

Str\u014dma, he said, uses a low-energy laser to disrupt a thin layer of brown pigment covering the front surface of the iris, initiating a gradual tissue-removal process through which the body digests and eliminates the treated pigment. He said the laser breaks the pigments into the microscopic particles that are small enough for the body to remove.<\/p>\n

Riaz noted that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would have to approve the procedure if marketed in the U.S.<\/p>\n

But Homer said he did not plan to pursue FDA approval in the U.S. until next year. Instead, he expected Str\u014dma to seek the CE (Conformit\u00e9 Europ\u00e9enne, meaning European Conformity, a symbol of free marketability in the European Economic Area) this year. This would allow him to release the technology in all countries other than the U.S.<\/p>\n

Homer is a researcher and will not treat patients. Str\u014dma stressed it will not perform the procedure on any patients, but will train and certify independent physicians to perform it. The company said these doctors would also set their price. However, it anticipates the retail price of the procedure in the U.S. will be around $5,000.<\/p>\n

Some doctors are skeptical about such cosmetic techniques.<\/p>\n

Mark Sheldon, an ethicist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, pointed out that cosmetic surgery is \u201celective” or voluntary. \u201cMy own feeling is that surgery should only be undertaken if there is no other choice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He suggested people distinguish between plastic surgery that focuses on reconstruction following burns and other wounds, and cosmetic surgery that surgeons advertise in magazines.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey speak to women\u2019s insecurities. They promise a younger, more attractive, self. These cosmetic surgeons advertise directly to the public. They are \u2018selling\u2019 things, not responding to circumstances of human beings who are dealing with illness, disease and suffering. They lie outside regular medicine. I would say that these cosmetic surgeons don\u2019t actually have \u2018patients.\u2019 They have \u2018clients,\u2019\u201d Sheldon said.<\/p>\n

Homer thought the ethicist is entitled to his view, but considers it an extreme position. \u201cThere is always \u2018another choice,\u2019 which is to have no cosmetic enhancement at all. That seems like more of a personal decision than an ethical issue,\u201d he said. He argued that under this ethicist’s view, there would be no hair transplants because of the non-surgical toupee option, liposuction (girdles), breast implants (padded bras), laser skin resurfacing (makeup), or LASIK (glasses).<\/p>\n

Finally, Homer emphasized that Str\u014dma candidates don’t have an acceptable non-surgical option because the translucence of a natural blue eye can only be achieved by removing the brown pigment. \u201cCovering the brown with a contact lens or iris implant creates an opaque blue eye, which does not exist in nature and will always look fake,\u201d Homer said.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Str\u014dma claims blue eyes are “the most sought-after eye color.”
(nixjess\/Flickr)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Chencheng Zhao \u201cUnderneath every brown eye is a blue eye,\u201d said Gregg Homer, the inventor of the first noninvasive cosmetic surgery that transforms brown eyes to blue by low-energy laser. The new procedure, known as Stroma, is raising questions about potential side effects from the technique as well the ethics of performing an elective […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":274,"featured_media":35845,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,585],"tags":[2130,2129],"class_list":["post-35680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-and-science","category-winter-2016","tag-cosmetic-surgery","tag-new-technology"],"yoast_head":"\nNew technique changing eyes from brown to blue sparks debate - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/new-technique-changing-eyes-from-brown-to-blue-sparks-debate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New technique changing eyes from brown to blue sparks debate - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Chencheng Zhao \u201cUnderneath every brown eye is a blue eye,\u201d said Gregg Homer, the inventor of the first noninvasive cosmetic surgery that transforms brown eyes to blue by low-energy laser. The new procedure, known as Stroma, is raising questions about potential side effects from the technique as well the ethics of performing an elective […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/new-technique-changing-eyes-from-brown-to-blue-sparks-debate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-08T21:44:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/17131352786_cb87bb9380_o.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"498\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"chenchengzhao\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"chenchengzhao\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/new-technique-changing-eyes-from-brown-to-blue-sparks-debate\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/new-technique-changing-eyes-from-brown-to-blue-sparks-debate\/\",\"name\":\"New technique changing eyes from brown to blue sparks debate - 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