Just like the old Crystal Gayle song, a new laser technology could soon allow you to turn those boring brown eyes of your to a rich and beautiful blue. But you better make sure that blue eyes are what you really want because there is no reversing this surgery.
Dr. Gregg Homer from Stroma Medical in Laguna Brach, California has developed a new treatment known as Lumineyes. Homer has been working on the treatment for the last 10 years and submitted a patent for the idea in 2005.
People with brown eyes have a pigment known as melanin in the front of their irises. People with blue eyes, or the recessive traits, have this brown melanin but only in the back of the iris. It is this lack of pigment that creates the blue color.
In Dr. Homer’s procedure, which only takes about 20 seconds, a laser is used to remove the melanin from the top layer of the iris. Within a few weeks, the blue eye color emerges.
But don’t start making phone calls and getting in line to have your eye color changed just yet. This procedure has only had limited testing on humans and the company is currently seeking funding to complete human trials. It is the hope of Dr. Homer that the procedure will be available outside the U.S. within the next 18 months and U.S. residents could see it becoming available within the next three years.
With so many people turning to cosmetic contact lenses to change the color of their eyes, this new procedure would offer a permanent alternative. Dark eyes are much more common than blue eyes, with about 80 percent of the population having the darker pigment. Stroma Medical has conducted two different surveys that show 17 percent of these dark-eyed people would choose the permanent color change if it was safe and effective.
© 2011 PhysOrg.com
