[Scleral tattooing: A dangerous fashion trend]

Tattooing of the glove is an old practice used 2000 years ago on the cornea to improve the appearance of unsightly corneal scars. Since 2007, tattoo artists have been performing scleral tattoos, also called "eyeball tattoos," despite the risks involved and the disapproval of health authorities and the medical community. We report the case of a 30-year-old man with bilateral black ink scleral tattoos who came to our ophthalmologic emergency service with episcleral nodules, which had appeared at the ink injection sites. The clinical course stabilized with topical anti-inflammatory treatment. Similar cases have been reported in the literature, in one of which the patient underwent surgical excision of a similar lesion. Histological analysis showed a lympho-histiocytic reaction without any signs of malignancy. To date, 20 cases of scleral tattoos have been reported in the international literature, often with severe complications. We see, on the one hand, complications related to perforating trauma, and on the other hand, acute and chronic complications inherent to the products used. Scleral tattooing is gaining popularity around the world despite significant risk exposure, including traumatic, inflammatory, immune, infectious and probably long-term neoplastic consequences. Ophthalmologists must be aware of this practice and its consequences in order to make the most appropriate therapeutic decisions.