http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/1109986265
Ill. Lawmakers Take on 'Eyeball Jewelry'
March 4, 2005 8:30 p.m. EST
By MARY TALLON, Associated Press Writer
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Some Illinois lawmakers want to make sure the twinkle in your eye doesn't come from jewelry.
Repulsed by a body modification offered at a Dutch institute - where tiny metal hearts and half-moons are surgically embedded in the whites of the eye - one lawmaker has proposed banning the practice in Illinois.
A House committee Thursday approved legislation that would make it a felony to implant jewelry in someone's eye.
"I don't think anybody should be messing with the eyeball," Democratic Rep. Kevin Joyce said Friday.
The procedure involves making a tiny slice in the membrane covering the eye and slipping in a small, flat piece of metal. The result is a shiny shape in the white of the eye. The procedure is performed under local anesthetic.
Dr. Janak Koirala, assistant professor of medicine at Southern Illinois University, said he is concerned about the possibility of infection or other damage - risks that would last as long as the person kept the jewelry in their eye.
"It's not like piercing the skin," he said.
In the United States, at least one California-based doctor is offering the procedure, but a tattoo artist said lawmakers are giving the issue more attention than it deserves.
"Most people in the Midwest, when it comes to body modification, are very conservative," said Kevin Veara, the 43-year-old owner of Black Moon Tattoos.
He conceded, however, that as tattoos become more mainstream, people in Europe and the U.S. coasts are undergoing more daring and possibly dangerous body modifications - larger and deeper piercings through various body parts.
"It's like you're not a freak anymore if you have a tattoo," Veara said. "To be a freak you've got to step up a little bit."
Top
