At a New York City Tattoo Convention, Dr. Emil Chynn performed an eye surgery to a person with a corneal injury by placing a matching eye tattoo to boost his self-confidence.
The surgeon and medical director who owns Park Avenue Lasek in Manhattan applies ink to the superficial layer of the eye, setting himself apart from those who inject eye-coloring with syringes to patients.
"So it's a very delicate procedure, and we're using the most fine tattoo needle as possible," Dr. Chynn told CNBC about his method.
With the use of a compact Swashdrive Tattoo Machine, Dr. Chynn decreases the repetition of the needle injecting the ink and carefully adjusts the needle's motion to ensure that the cornea will not be damaged.
Before the procedure, Chynn applies an antibiotic to numb the eye and gives patients clear contact lenses as they wait for the eye to heal.
With this tattoo, Chynn creates an illusion of a normal eye to make his patients feel better about themselves.
At the Tattoo Convention, Chynn performed this surgery to his patient, Winston Warner, who had a white blotch on his eye due to his corneal injury.
At $2,300 per complete tattoo session, Chynn aims to help thousands more of people with eye defects across the United States.
"So the potential audience is vast because there's many people with ocular injuries that can benefit cosmetically from a tattoo to make them more emotionally confident and to be able to look people in the eye," he stated.
Chynn added that health insurance companies are willing to cover the medical fees only id not done for purely cosmetic purposes.
According to Chynn, getting a tattoo for these defective eye cases is always safer when done by a surgeon.
As stated on his website, Dr. Chynn has also "helped tens of thousands of patients get rid of their glasses and contacts."
