Ontario moves to ban eye tattooing, implanting eye jewelry

Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins said Wednesday he is aware of the dramatic details surrounding Gallinger’s condition. Both the opposition Conservatives and NDP gave unanimous consent to add the ban to the health-care bill before the house.

“The Eye Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario came to us very concerned about this issue, that that kind of invasive procedure would be done to an individual’s eye in a completely unregulated fashion,” he said. “They made the request to the government that we prohibit this procedure unless it’s for medical purposes.”

Ophthalmologists do occasionally use tattoo ink for medical purposes, such as to reduce glare or corneal scarring using sterile equipment in an operating room.

Earlier this month, Dr. Kylen McReelis, an ophthalmologist and the chief of surgery at Peterborough Regional Health Centre, spoke to a committee at Queen’s Park, urging legislators to take action.

“Ophthalmologists around the world are experiencing increasing numbers of patients with blindness and eye loss because of the increasing popularity of eye tattooing,” he said. “The risky act of tattooing is being performed by untrained individuals who have no knowledge of the eye’s delicate anatomy.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said she supports the ban, adding that the government has a role to play when it comes to barring practices that can hurt Ontarians.

“Eye tattooing is something that’s very dangerous. … It doesn’t seem to me there’s much of a standard or requirement for skills of folks who might be undertaking that procedure,” she said. “That leaves the person who wants to get that tattoo quite vulnerable.”

Shawn Jeffords, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Ontario moves to ban eye tattooing, implanting eye jewelry

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