Blue eyes have historically been a significant measure of attractiveness, and although they’re commonly found among actors and models, only 17% of the global population has them. For the majority of people, approximately 80% of the population, blue eyes have been attainable¹ only with the aid of colored contact lenses or artificial iris² implants³. But that will soon change with the introduction of a new medical procedure, pioneered by California company Stroma Medical, that can turn brown eyes blue.

蓝色眼睛一直被认为是美貌的一个重要衡量标准。尽管很多演员和模特都有蓝眼睛，但是从全球范围来看，只有17%的人口拥有蓝眼睛。对大多数人（80%）而言，蓝色眼睛只能靠佩戴有色隐形眼镜或植入人工虹膜来实现。不过，这一切很快就要改变了，美国加州基质医学公司率先引进的一项新手术可以让棕色眼睛变成蓝色。

The laser procedure works by eliminating the melanin from the surface of the iris, which then allows light to enter and scatter⁴ in the stroma. The effect is similar to Rayleigh scattering⁵, in which wavelengths⁶ of sunlight hit much smaller molecules⁷ in the air and then scatter, which makes the atmosphere appear blue.

这项激光手术通过消除虹膜表面的黑色素，让光线得以进入虹膜，分散在基质层上，从而让眼睛呈现出蓝色。这一过程和瑞利散射的原理类似，当阳光的波长触及空气中的分子散射开来，天空就会呈现蓝色。

“The fundamental principle is that under every brown eye is a blue eye,” Dr. Gregg Homer told CNN, adding that there is no actual blue pigmentation in the eye. “The only difference between a brown eye and a blue eye is this very thin layer of pigment⁸ on the surface. If you take that pigment away, then the light can enter the stroma — the little fibers⁹ that look like bicycle spokes¹⁰ in a light eye – and when the light scatters¹¹ it only reflects back the shortest wavelengths, and that’s the blue end of the spectrum¹².”

格雷格?荷马医生告诉CNN说：“基本原理是，每只棕色眼睛的后面都是一只蓝色眼睛。”他补充说，其实眼睛里并没有蓝色的色素。棕色眼睛和蓝色眼睛的唯一区别就在于虹膜表面的这层极薄的色素。如果你把这层色素移去，光线就可以进入到基质层——这层纤维肌在浅色眼睛中看起来就像自行车辐条——当光线分散到基质层上，只有波长最短的光线会反射回去，也就是光谱中的蓝光。”

The laser treatment disrupts the fragile layer of pigment on the iris, which causes the body to start removing the tissue naturally. While the procedure itself only takes around 20 seconds, the blue eyes do not emerge for several weeks, as the body can only gradually release the pigment.

激光手术会破坏虹膜表面这层脆弱的色素，促使人体自然地移除相关组织。尽管手术本身只需20秒钟，但是要过上数周，眼睛才能变成蓝色，因为人体只能逐渐地释放色素。

Stroma Medical aspires¹³ to develop the safest, cheapest, and most convenient procedure available on the market, but it has yet to gain approval from the regulatory bodies in the United States. The company’s medical board has stated that preliminary studies show that the surgery is safe, but so far only 37 patients altogether have undergone the treatment. 17 patients were in Mexico and the remaining 20 in Costa Rica. The company is currently in the fundraising stage as it searches for investors¹⁴, but hopes to have completed clinical trials within a few years. Currently, the price to change brown eyes blue stands at a relatively¹⁵ high amount of $5,000.

基质医学公司立志研发出市场上最安全、最实惠、最方便的眼球变色手术，但仍需获得美国监管机构的许可。该公司的医务委员会声称，前期研究显示，手术是安全的，但到目前为止总共只有37位患者接受了这种手术。17位患者在墨西哥，其余20位在哥斯达黎加。该公司目前正在融资阶段，在寻找投资人的同时，公司希望能够在几年内完成临床试验。当前把棕色眼睛变成蓝色眼睛的手术费用较高，需5000美元（3.3万元人民币）。

The medical industry, ophthalmologists in particular, has not been particularly receptive to the procedure. The skepticism is based on the fact that eyes are one of the most sensitive organs in the human body, and that the procedure is irreversible.

医学界尤其是眼科界对这种手术的接受度不是特别高。他们质疑的依据是，眼睛是人体最敏感的器官之一，而这种手术是不可逆的。

Saj Khan, an ophthalmologist at the London Eye Hospital, told CNN, “The primary concern with any procedure that involves releasing pigment inside the eye is that the pigment can clog¹⁶ up the regular drainage channels which can, in turn, cause the pressure inside the eye to go up. If that happens significantly enough, for long enough, it’s how patients develop glaucoma.”

伦敦眼科医院的眼科医生萨吉?可汗告诉CNN说：“任何会释放眼内色素的手术让人担心的首要问题是，色素可能会堵塞微循环，从而导致眼压上升。如果情况严重并且长期持续的话，就会患上青光眼。”

Stroma Medical claims that the particles released by the procedure are too small to cause glaucoma, which Khan admits makes sense, but he and other doctors are reluctant to recommend it.

基质医学公司声称，手术所释放的微粒体积很小，不会导致青光眼，尽管可汗承认这种说法有道理，但是他和其他医生还是不愿意推荐这种手术。

“Theory has some sense to it, but without seeing long-term outcomes and without seeing patients that have been treated in this way I wouldn’t commit myself to it,” Khan said.

可汗说：“从理论上说是合理的，但是没看到长期后果，接触不到接受这种手术的患者，我是不会认可这种手术的。”

“It’s not a goal of our company to promote blue eyes,” Stroma Medica’s Dr. Gregg Homer told CNN. “From my experience what most people are after is the translucence¹⁷ of the blue eye rather than the color of the blue eye. The people who seem most vigilant¹⁸ about pursuing this always have a story about being young and in the presence of a sibling¹⁹ or a friend who had light eyes and the friend is being told how beautiful their eyes are, and it sticks with them. That seems to be something they’ve carried around with them. Would it be better for them to get over it? Probably. All your problems don’t go away because you’ve changed your eye color, but I do believe that people like to express themselves a certain way and it’s nice when they have the freedom to do that.”

“我们公司的目标不是宣传蓝眼睛，”基质医学公司的格雷格?荷马医生告诉CNN说，“根据我的经验，多数人追求的是蓝眼睛的澄澈感，而不是蓝眼睛的颜色。那些最渴求蓝眼睛的人通常都有一个这样的故事：小时候某个兄弟姐妹或朋友拥有蓝眼睛，然后被别人称赞眼睛很漂亮，于是他们就有了挥之不去的‘蓝眼睛情结’。是不是等他们自己放下这个执念会更好呢？很可能是这样。你自身的问题不会因为你改变了眼睛颜色就全都消失，但我相信有人会愿意用某种方式来表达自己，让他们获得表达的自由不是很好吗？”