The process takes 20 seconds and can remove pigment in brown eyes so they turn blue.
The procedure is done by agitating the pigment on the surface of the iris. They use two frequencies of the laser that are absorbed by the dark pigment. As it heats up, it changes the structure of the pigment cells. Doctor Homer adds, " The body recognises they are damaged tissue and sends out a protein. This recruits another feature that is like little pac-men that digest the tissue at a molecular level." His company is still testing the process and may take two years before it becomes commercially available.
The first week, the eye color turns darker as its tissue changes. After another one to three weeks, the blueness appears.
It should be noted that the treatment is irreversible.
Eye doctors are worried that the procedure may cause sight problems.
Video: Doctor Gregg Homer
Larry Benjamin, a consultant eye surgeon at Stoke Mandeville Hospital says, "The pigment is there for a reason. If it is lost you can get problems such as glare or double vision”
Dr Homer says that he only removes the pigment from the eye's surface and nothing else. He adds, ""This is only around one third to one half as thick as the pigment at the back of the iris and has no medical significance,"
He also claimed that patients with brown eyes would be less sensitive to light than people with blue eyes. Brown-eyed people has more pigment in the other areas and most will be left untouched.
According to Homer, "We run tests for 15 different safety examination procedures. We run the tests before and after the treatment, and the following day, and the following weeks, and the following months and the following three months.Thus far we have no evidence of any injury."
Cosmetic changes in eye color is on the rise, specially overseas. a recent study reported a growing demand for cosmetic contact lenses in Singapore.
Video: Laser eye surgery
