Honestly, there’s not a lot to say about my personal eyeball tattoo. It didn’t hurt when I had it done – we used drops, but that was more for the stinging from the ink around the eyelids than any potential needle pain – and there was no pain, stinging or discomfort in the weeks that followed either. And it hasn’t changed my vision or my quality of life at all.

	I think the needle just went a little too deep on mine

I did have just one small issue though that no one else got. I think the needle just went a little too deep on mine – which is easily done, we’re talking about distances of less than millimetres here – and it left me with a small cyst. I was a little worried at first but we’ll see what happens. You can see the cyst in normal situations. I think most people just assume that there is something wrong with my eye. It looks grotesque, but I really like it. I think it’ll be OK.

Two other people, Josh and Pauly, had it done at the same time as me. They haven’t had any problems either. Pauly’s is OK but he lost most of his ink, so you really wouldn’t notice it. Josh’s tattoo is great because it is far more towards the front of the eye, which makes it visually very powerful. When he’s looking straight at you, you really see it, whereas with mine you only see it from the side.

I think Howie has done two more but I’m not sure. I think one of them was, to the best my knowledge UV ink, so it would be effectively invisible in regular light but would glow under UV light.

The main development since I had mine done has been that more people have got them too and that it’s made its way into mainstream media.

There’s a video that’s been uploaded onto youtube that is exactly the same procedure used to do mine. I think it was done by some guys from a shop in Atlanta. I’m not in touch with them but I talked to a friend of theirs who told me that only about three small dots had stayed, which is about what I would expect as I don’t think the needle went in deep enough.

It’s satisfying to see somebody copying it, although I don’t really see it as my work. I helped popularise it but it’s not like we invented it, other people have done this historically. I just like to see other people doing it.

And that may happen now that eyeball tattoos have featured on mainstream American TV in C.S.I., which, there is no doubt, they based on our procedure. If they didn’t see our site then they saw it in Bizarre because they used our method and nobody else uses that method. I was shocked to see that but it’s always kind of exciting to be in the ultra-mainstream media. I think it’s great if it gets more people doing it.

I’m going to get some more done as soon as I can. And I’ll definitely be using the injection method again. I like the effect that it gives. The alternative would be regular tattooing with a three-prong needle, how doctors do it. You’d be able to get a quite precise image with that.

I think a lot of people were expecting my tattoo to have a more defined shape, and if eyeball tattooing takes off I think that’s what most people would want. And it’s totally doable. I didn’t choose that method because my goal is to colour in my entire eye in different blues to make a mottled look. I’m hoping that it will look like I just have a big bluish, green eyeball. It’s going to be quite something.