Sabrina Shah

Boyd

ENGL-105i

4 February 2016

Dear Ms. Boyd

According to your agency’s website, you are actively seeking an article regarding new scientific technology so I’m pleased to introduce my article “The One Eye Want”.

Do you yourself have dark brown eyes? Have you ever wished to have vibrant-colored irises? Have you ever invested in colored contacts? Imagine being able to have the bright blue colored lenses you’ve always wanted, permanently.

The idea of cosmetic eye color alteration procedures that were once only seen in sci-fi films and novels is now a reality. With the latest technology, labs in California and India are permanently changing people’s eye color with great rates of success and ease. My article is an informative piece regarding the new eye color alteration surgeries; it goes on to give in-depth descriptions of two different procedures in eye color-changing technology, the tests and trials that have been recorded for both surgeries, and real world implications of the procedure to everyday people.

The article will include a brief narrative of how scientists initially became interested in eye color alteration. The discovery of the ability to change one’s eye color was found when a glaucoma patient was undergoing experimental treatments. After scientists and doctors used a laser in hopes of curing the man’s glaucoma, they discovered his eyes changing in hue to a bright blue color— an unexpected side effect. Upon the realization that the eye color change did no damage to the man’s iris, and resulted in an aesthetic change, scientist started research and development to create a similar surgery to use for cosmetic purposes.

Under every brown eye is a blue eye. This is the basis of the idea a Californian lab developed its own technique on to attempt cosmetic eye color change.  They have created a non-invasive laser method that is pointed at a specific spot in the iris, the “sweet spot”, that causes gradual pigmented tissue degeneration over the course of a few weeks that eventually reveals the blue hue that is present under every brown eye. This operation has occurred so far in California and clinical trials have been done on 20 individuals in one eye each to see the success rates and possible long term side effects. So far the operation has yielded great success and no issues have come up however, one known flaw is that the procedure only works to turn brown eyes blue, and the blue hue varies in shade depending on the individual’s own base blue eye pigment.

A second technique in its trial stages is a permanent implantation of a colored lens over the iris. This has so far only had one trial performed on a New Zealand woman; the surgery took place in a lab in India. No negative side affects have been noted by the participant thus far, and the surgery was successful in altering her brown eyes to her desired shade of bright teal blue. This surgery, unlike the previously mentioned one, can change any person with any eye color to any other desired color.

The implications of these two surgeries are monumental. They can be used for people who are afflicted with genetic diseases such as albinism, birth defects, and people who lack color in their irises, for medical purposes. They can also be used on people who just do not like their dark eyes and want an everlasting eye color change. Imagine plastic surgery/body modification for the eye balls.

If you and your audience would be interested in learning even more about the exciting future of eye color alteration surgery I hope you will consider featuring “The One Eye Want” in your magazine.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Sabrina Shah