“All the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skin doll was what every girl child treasured,” wrote Toni Morrison in her award winning novel, “The Bluest Eye”. What can a black girl do to try and reach such a narrow vision of beauty?
She prays for the bluest eyes.
“I always wanted that pop to my eyes, something that would stand out,” said Laterra Poole, a 24-year-old woman from Ohio.
But her dark brown eyes didn’t fit her perspective of beauty. While surfing YouTube for eye drops that allegedly change a person’s eye color, she stumbled upon a new procedure called NewColorIris. Developed by Dr. Delary Alberto Kahn, the operation consists of a blue or green diaphragm surgically implanted into the eye, covering the iris and resulting in blue or green colored eyes. The procedure may seem surreal, but hundreds of people have already gotten the surgery. Poole contacted Dr. Kahn and drilled him with questions about the new procedure with excitement and anticipation.
“At a point I wanted [the surgery] so bad, I got afraid to keep questioning people because I felt that [the NewColorIris doctors] weren’t going to want to do the surgery…sometimes small answers seem really big when you really want something,” Poole said.
Poole didn't miss the fact that the NewColorIris procedure wasn't FDA approved or done anywhere else in the world except Panama. Yet she boarded a plane in February and flew to the island to pay $7,995 to change her brown eye color to ice blue. What she wasn't prepared for were the after effects of the new surgery.
“I just wanted the renewed feel, but I thought it would last,” Poole answered when asked why she wanted to change her eye color. The ice blue results from the procedure displeased Poole and she immediately confronted the doctors. “They told me my eyes just needed to settle,” Poole said. However, the striking color of her newly blue eyes remained a considerable contrast to her brown skin.
The aesthetic results were not the only displeasure Poole faced. Painful recovery was another price Poole had to pay. Her new eyes were constantly red and sensitive to light. Poole also suffered painful head aches. “When I went [to Panama], I was told I wouldn’t be dependent on any medication,” Poole said. She relied on Ibuprofen for pain management and has had to use eye drops every day since the procedure. “I was told the eye drops were for the nourishment of my e
yes,” she said. The $75-per-month drops also lower the risk of glaucoma and loss of eye sight.
Poole’s distaste for the results of the procedure and the painful aftermath, has led her to seek removal of the implants. She now has a YouTube channel and a website that highlights the journey of her surgery and the removal of the implants.
“I’ve been outside a handful of times other than going to school, because I feel so embarrassed that they don’t look natural and that I look like a vampire,” Poole said.
The left implant was removed July 17, 2009.The implant stretched her left pupil and that damage is irreversible. Poole is excited to get the right implant removed September 4. “The left eye…feels wonderful. I can’t wait to go back to being me,” Poole said.
Poole wanted the bluest eyes and went to great lengths to get them. “Everybody can find something about themselves that they would have fixed, and if they had the money they possibly would. Mine happened to be my eye,” Poole said.
The NewColorIris website states “If you’ve ever dreamed of what it would be like; the attention you would get with blue or green eyes, this is one way you can finally make that dream a reality.” Poole made that dream a reality, but all she really found was pain.
Beneath is a video of Laterra explaining her ordeal. For more of her journey, visit www.laterratv.com.
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