A 24-year-old model from Ottawa, Canada, had a scleral tattoo that went terribly wrong. Catt Gallinger wanted to turn the white of her eye purple but she regrets not having been cautious enough and now has a blurry vision and severe pain. There is ink streaming from her eye, which might be completely removed if the situation worsens.
Doctors told her that her eye will not get better and that she will probably go blind. The best possible scenario is that her sight will remain a blurry mess. The model will sue the artist who performed the extreme procedure because her doctors concluded he might have used too much ink and a needle too big to color the eyes.
Due to the infection she has, doctors believe equipment used by the tattoo artist was not sterile. Gallinger shared graphic images and a very emotional video on Facebook to encourage people to avoid making her mistake.
Scleral tattoo was probably done with unsterile equipment
Gallinger claims her aftercare was good enough and that there are people who can attest that she washed her hands every time she did anything with her eye. Additionally, there are no furry pets at her home to cause harm to her eye.
For the first week and a half, Gallinger used prescribed antibiotic drops and then started applying steroid drops. Although the internal swelling was slightly reduced, the external swelling lasted nearly seven days. After three weeks, the discomfort increased and her vision became blurry.
When asked why she wanted to color the white in her eye, Gallinger said it would help her feel “more at home” in her body.
The model also opened up about the many negative thoughts she has had after she got the scleral tattoo. She has had a hard time looking at her own face and decided to give up modeling for some time. In a video posted on Facebook, she admitted she had stopped doing things she used to enjoy such as singing and painting, among other creative performances.
“I’ve had some very bad thoughts. Some very bad emotions and some very scary ones,” Gallinger said, as quoted by Mirror UK. “But I’m not going to give in. It’s my life and this is not the way I will go out. I am not a quitter,” the model added.
What can be done to prevent tattoo disasters
As she hopes medications or surgery will prevent her eye from getting worse, she shares her story so other people can be extremely cautious when making decisions about body modifications. The Canadian model says everyone interested in extreme procedures to change a part of their body should be very careful about the expert they choose for their tattoos.
She strongly recommends extensive research to get a deep understanding of the advantages and downsides and warned tattoo artists to also be careful and explain clients all the risks involved in the procedures. She told The Sun newspaper that people should look beyond the artist’s portfolio and talk to some of their clients in order to make sure that person is highly recommended.
Source: Daily Mail
Nose ring gives it away.
Don’t blame the tattoo artist. Blame the idiot that wanted to tattoo her eye. Model? I don’t think so!