Corneal tattooing revisited: excirner laser in the treatment of unsightly leucornata

Abstract

Background: Corneal tattooing, a procedure first used by Galen in the treatment of unsightly leucomata, has in recent times received relatively little attention due to major advances in intraocular and corneal surgery. Resurrection of the technique, however, may be reasonably considered in 'high risk' cases of leucomata or lexocoria where corneal transplantation would lead to rejection and failure, or, in eyes with no visual potential, where removal of cosmetically unacceptable dense, white

Long term ultrastructural changes in human corneas after tattooing with non-metallic substances

“…2 That is the reason why the chemical method remains the most commonly employed today in the West 4. Thus, it was not surprising that all tattoos in our series (except for the unknown cases) originated in eastern and/or north African parts of the world (Table 1).…”

“…The remaining problems of corneal tattooing, however, are still its long term instability as well as imperfect geometrical configuration 2. A new modification of the tattooing procedure, which might eliminate the problem of irregular staining, was recently published by Anastas et al , who used an excimer laser for preparation of an ideal circular and even corneal bed for tattooing 4. With new generation excimer lasers (for example, flying spot technology) and ablation masks ablations of different profiles can be achieved 5.…”

Answers

“…The optimum tattooing technique is still a matter of debate, with some advocating the use of a lamellar pocket and metal salt precipitation,17 others recommending the use of excimer laser to prepare the corneal bed for staining,18 mechanised keratomicropigmentation19 or simple freehand techniques as employed here 6…”

Corneal tattooing: an alternative treatment for disfiguring corneal scars

“…While the ancient method of impregnation 1 seems problematic due to rather unpredictable staining, 4 there is sufficient evidence that lamellar keratectomy procedures give excellent results in terms of a homogeneous application of colour. [5][6][7][8] On the other hand, many scars do not allow lamellar keratectomy owing to irregularity, thinning, or calcification. Taking into account the individual corneal changes of our patients, we decided to choose the dermatography-like manner of tattooing.…”