FAB to be Black: A Step Too Far- by Daphne Tona Weyalo

Weaves, skin lightening, rhinoplasty and now changing the colour of your eyes?

A woman is more often than not judged by her beauty. Beauty in the Western world is often defined by the European look, blonde hair, blue eyes, slim features… you know the rest, and often as black women whether it’s a subconscious decision or a something you willingly do we adhere to this Western view of beauty.

I mean in the US alone weaves are a half a trillion dollar industry.

But sometimes the extremes that people will go to is still quite shocking. A new fad is having surgery to change the colour of your eyes. How it works is an implant is placed over the natural iris resulting in a permanent colour change. The process usually takes about 15 minutes per eye maximum. One site claims that the surgery will give you a natural appearance with no risks. They are wrong on both accounts.

LaTerra who  had this surgery released a YouTube video warning against the dangers of this surgery. Two months after the procedure she is experiencing “pain in her eyes, swelling and blurry vision”. She looked all around the internet for information about this and found two people who had had the surgery, they said they didn’t have any problems, but she later found out that they were being paid to lie. Aside from the discomfort she says that she looks “like a vampire” because the colour looks so unnatural.

LaTerra before surgery

LaTerra after surgery

"I look like a vampire"

Rather than going to such lengths to make your outer appearance “beautiful” I think it’s about time we worked on accepting ourselves the way we are and accepting the reality that there is more that one definition of beauty. Young girls are destroying their lives for the sake of beauty and that to me is such an ugly thing.

Here is LaTerra’s warning video.

http://youtu.be/pkAoY3vVsgc