The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-05-26

~ OF white streak in your eye?
tT Have it tinted while you wait Any
- shade Of blue. brown or gray-it
makes no difference. The oculist can
easily mix the India ink to match. A few
moments of intense pain which not even
per cent solution of cocaine can drive
away; a little brisk rubbing with the
hnger on the cCTnea, and there you are
Biemish gone. beauty restored.
How much will it cost? That depends. If
you are rich and can go to specialist the
matter rests entirely with him. Eye spe-
ciailStS are much the same as experts in
other branches of the profession. Those
who can pay must pay. Sometimes $500 is
charged for the operation. If you can't
pay, the doctors of the eye and ear infirm-
airy will change the color of your eye
for you They have been performing oper-
atoms of this kind, although they scarce
" dignity it by the name of an opera
ton. for some time.
News was telegraphed from Boston to
New York last week that two doctors had
accomplished something wonderful in
changing the color of a pretty woman's
eye with the aid of a needle. When this
was shown to the doctors of the clinic at
the New Yoril eye and ear infiTmary they
exclaimed with one accord:
Why. we have been doing it for a long
time, You might as wen call an operation
for appendicitis wonderful
Nothing, of course, will change the nat
ura1 color of the pigment of the eye 1t
would be impossible to change blue eye
into brown eye or vice versa Persons
unfortunate enough to be born with eyes
OF different color, and there are many of
the1n. cannot have the defect remedied by
the, needle. There Is no changing the color
OF the off eye unless the owner of it is
willing to sacrifice the sight of that eye.
But where the iris has been destroyed
wholly or partially by white streak or
some other Opaque substance. a defect
fatal to beauty as wei as a bar to sight
science can do great deal more now
than it could a few years ago. There are
instances where women have entirely sac
rificed the sight of one eye in order to
have both eyes look alike.
Eye specialists say various causes con-
tribute to the white streak or other OPP,
tcad biemlSheS that women with pretty
eyes dread so. Sometimes it is Speck in
the iris unnoticed at birth and which be-
comes more and more OF a Disagreement
as time goes on. Irritation caused by
bit of coal dust or other foreign sub
stance in the eye, over study. late hours,
enfeebled condition of the blood after an
illness-a variety Of things may give rise
to 1t. Girls Who work at sewing machines
in factories are subject to it. So are
men who work in machine shops where
minute particles Of steel dust are flying
around. A severe blow in the eye may
cause a white spot on the iris that viii
surely spread if not checked. For per
sons thus afflicted the cambria needle
and India ink have taken the place of
the tinted spectacles. All it requires is
little nerve.
An actress Of prominence who was not
seen in New York in the season just
closing and who for three or four months
before her temporary disappearance never.
was without d black veil drawn just be-
low the bridge Of her nose. called on an
agent again last week. The agent looked
at her searchingly.
what have you been doing to your
self?'' he asked. Changed the color of
your hair?''
mo. nv hair is the same color 1t al
WAYS was the actress replied.
The agent shook his head There's
something he repeated What is ii?
I've changed my eyes.
THE devil you say. exclaimed the
agent.
had white blemisheS in each of her bonnie
brown eyes. The bottom of one eye and
the top OF the other was useless to her
for sight. The Disagreement so marred
her beauty that she always wore a Ven
on the street In her stage makeup the
defect was not so apparent. She left the
stage last spring and went to specialist.
Both her eyes ROW are soft brown. There
is no trace Of the white spots, even
through a magnifying glass. 1t was q
heroic case of the needle and India ink.
She can no more see through the Opaque
portions of her eyes now than she could
when they were white, but she can look
her friends in the face without a feeling
OF modification
While refusing to discuss this particular
case. the specialist who performed the
operation said: 1t is quite a common
thing now to tint the eyes with India ink
The operation is simple and not particu-
larry painful Women viii undergo great
deal OF pain rather than sacrifice their
beauty. l should say there are twenty
women in New York undergoing such
trea tment today where there was one a
year or so ago. They talk TO one another
about such things. Where an afflicted
woman sees success in one case she is
willing t@~take the same risk herself Of
course, we cannot change the natural color
of the eye. but we can tint the diseased
portion so that the eye viii be all of one
color. The operation is no detriment TO
the sight whatever so long as it is con-
fined to the opaque portion of the eye.
If the needle gets into the live portion Of
the iris it would destroy the sight"
Keratitis is the technical name for the
eye disease that requires the needle and
India ink treatment. A girl who under
went an operation for it at the New York
Eye and Ear InfrnaTy- clinic the other day