The non-FDA-approved $12,000 keratopigmentation procedure, known as kerato (https://www.keratonyc.com) has now been performed in over 700 patients, according to an Inside Edition segment on the procedure.

“I’ve heard so many times, ‘Doctor, you’ve changed my life,” explained Alexander Movshovich, in the segment. “Because the eyes are the mirror of your soul.”

Kerato is comprised of using femtosecond laser to create an intracorneal tunnel, where pigment is placed to change a patient’s natural eye color. The patient is given topical anesthetic eye drops prior, and the procedure itself takes 30 minutes.   

The American Academy of Ophthalmology recently issued a warning on this, as well as another eye-color changing procedure.

The risks for keratopigmentation, according to the organization:

• Damage to the cornea that can lead to cloudiness, warpage, fluid leakage and vision loss;
• Light sensitivity;
• Reaction to the dye, which can cause inflammation, uveitis or blood vessel growth into the cornea;
• Bacterial or fungal infection, which can produce corneal scarring and vision loss;
• Uneven distribution of the dye;
• Leakage of the dye into the eye;
• Color fading due to the dye moving or leaking into the eye.

In the segment, Christopher E. Staar says, “think about prescription colored contact lenses that are FDA approved prior to doing any of these potentially invasive and risky surgeries.”  

Dr. Staar wrote the Research Article Spotlight column for the Nov. 2020 issue of Corneal Physician.