Kiwi eye health professionals took to the airwaves in October adding their voice to the call for governments on both sides of the ditch to ban eyeball tattooing, following yet another patient horror story.

Auckland ophthalmology training registrar Dr Zak Prime and New Zealand Association of Optometrists’ representative Andrew Sangster were both quoted in the media about the dangers of the growing practice. Speaking on Radio NZ, Dr Prime said his first case came as a bit of a shock. "When somebody comes in with almost bright pink eyes, it's definitely different."

Dr Prime’s first eyeball tattoo patient was a 22-year-old woman who couldn’t close her eyes after the whites of her eyes were injected with shocking-pink ink. Soon after he also had to tend to a 27-year-old man who had ink leakage and subconjunctival bleeding. Both were successfully treated, he said. "This procedure is more common in America and Australia and there have been a number of cases where needles have gone into the eye inadvertently ... and people have lost their eyes as a result of it.”

When asked for comment, Sangster outlined more side effects he’d heard about including prolonged headaches, light sensitivity, discoloured tears and even one case where the patient had to have their eye removed because of intractable pain.

The practice has come under the spotlight again after Catt Gallinger, a Canadian 24-year-old tattoo and body modification model’s scleral tattoo went badly wrong. Gallinger posted pictures of her experience on her Facebook page as a warning to others.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) issued an official warning about scleral tattooing and called for a ban on the practice in 2014, and has since continued to lobby for tighter regulation. “Eyeball tattooing is a high-risk procedure that involves permanently changing the colour of the white part of the eye. When this procedure goes wrong there can be devastating, lifelong consequences, including permanent blindness,” it said in a statement in October.

Eyeball tattooing by anyone other an a medically-trained eye care professional should be outlawed, it said. “We have an opportunity to take action now before the negative effects of eyeball tattooing become as prevalent in Australia and New Zealand as they have become elsewhere. Not only will this help prevent the life altering impact of vision loss for individuals, but it can also prevent the burden on the public health system, as severe eye injuries require complex treatment and ongoing medical care.”