A BRAZILIAN model has surgically changed the colour of her eyes after struggling to “identify” with her real shade.
Layyons Valença, 24, spent £7,000 to get her brown eyes changed to blue in a procedure done in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The model said she opted for the surgery because she never liked the original colour of her eyes, so much so that she could not even look in the mirror.
She even wore contact lenses to hide her natural brown eyes.
After getting severe infections from using lenses all the time, Layyons decided to go for the rare transition.
She said to Fantástico: “With my brown eyes, which is my natural colour, I didn’t identify with myself, I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror.
“I used to wear lenses all the time, even when I was sleeping.
“I got infections from wearing lenses. That’s when I decided I needed to change the colour of my eyes.”
Layyons explained she had to put intense efforts into taking care of her eye after the surgery.
“During the first three months, you are very sensitive to light. It goes away eventually.
“I had to use eye drops frequently to hydrate my eyes.”
The model’s eye transformation – called Keratopigmentation – was carried out at an ophthalmology clinic in a small town near Geneva.
Doctor Théodore Hojabr, who performed the surgery on the Brazilian model, said the procedure involves creating a tunnel in the eye with a microneedle and injecting pigments to change the colour.
He said to the media house: “We create a kind of tunnel in the cornea, which is done in seven seconds.
“We then inject the pigment to change the colour of the eyes with Keratopigmentation.
These pigments are derived from natural metals and minerals.”
The doctor also highlighted there could often be risks involved during the surgical procedure.
While Layyons says her “self-esteem increased a lot” after the risky procedure, fans of the Brazilian model think the surgery left her looking even more ugly – with some even claiming she now has “fake” eyes.
She added: “If they [haters] ask me, I tell them they are my eyes and I bought them, they are mine.
“I am happy, I feel fulfilled, I feel very good. My self-esteem has changed a lot.”
In Brazil, changing eye colour, such as that performed by Layyons Valença, is not allowed for aesthetic purposes.
Only patients with medical conditions such as extensive opacity of the cornea are allowed to go through the procedure, the Brazilian Society of Ophthalmology reports.
