New Delhi: In a first, a man from Delhi has gotten his eyeballs tattooed. Tattoographer Karan, as he calls himself, is the first Indian to have both his eyeballs tattooed.

28-year-old Karan, who is a tattoo artist himself, owns his own studio in the national capital. He has shared several pictures and videos of himself and his “new eyes” on social media.

Karan has got his eyeballs tattooed and joined a rare club who have done so – probably the first Indian in it. The young man – who is a full-time professional tattoo artist and piercer – has tattoos all over his own body.

But with eyeball tattoos, he has taken his frenzy to a new level.

In eyeball tattoos – also referred to as scleral tattoos – needles inject ink into the whites of a person’s eyes to permanently dye it a different colour.

When Karan was 16, he took up tattooing “as a hobby”. Later, he opened up his own tattoo studio in the Indian capital.

Karan started toying with the idea to tattoo his eyeballs six months back. He discussed it with his family and friends, wondering whether he should go for the permanent procedure or not. “Once they were convinced and knew I was 100% certain… they supported my decision,”he said.

An Australian tattoo artist, who Karan claims invented eyeball tattooing, at a tattoo studio in New York, US – carried out the procedure on him.

“Out of the 7.5 billion world population, only a few hundred have it. Out of the 1.3 billion Indian population – I am the first person to have my eyeballs permanently tattooed,” he claims.

Was the procedure painful? Karan says, “Pain and hurt are perspectives. Pain is just a fear and limitation in the mind.” However, he adds the procedure was “like a red-hot needle entering your eyeball”.

Karan got compliment for his tattoos while undergoing a security check at the airport while leaving the US. His unconventional and unique appearance has been appreciated on social media too. “I have been lucky enough to receive love.”

There have been two recent incidents where botched eyeball tattoo left the models partially blind. Karan has a word of caution for anyone opting for the procedure: Get the cutting-edge procedure done professionally.