A young Brooklyn rapper was hospitalized after he underwent a procedure that tattooed his eyes black — a trend that has been circulating among rappers recently.

The rapper, who goes by the name Mace, was seemingly following in the footsteps of Jamaican dancehall rapper Alkaline, who got his eyes tattooed black to help him stand out from other musicians. While Alkaline didn’t suffer any problems from the procedure, Mace ended up with complications in his right eye. The procedure, unlike regular skin tattooing, is fairly quick: it involves injecting the sclera (or white of the eye) with an ink-filled needle. But it can lead to blurred vision, or in the worst cases, blindness.

Sclera tattooing
Mace got his eyeballs tattooed black — a new and fairly experimental procedure in which ink is injected into the whites of your eyes and quickly spreads. Facebook

Mace, however, appears to have recovered. “My eyes feel better now thoe,” he wrote on his Facebook, according to The Mirror. “On medication for 2 weeks! Thank God i didnt get blind thoe.” Later, he wrote: “Now what i say? Di media sayinq im blinded in 1 eye but yet i can still see.”

alkaline
Alkaline was one of the first to undergo the procedure, and defended his decision against many skeptics who brought up the points that it could have caused blindness or an array of other unknown complications. YouTube
Alkaline's eyes
Alkaline tattooed his eyes black so he could distinguish himself from other Jamaican musicians, he claims. Facebook
Alkaline
Though sclera tattooing can cause serious eyesight complications and even lead to blindness, Alkaline isn't too worried and believes it can be reversible. Facebook

Alkaline underwent the experimental tattooing in order to help differentiate himself from other rappers. “We have like 10 million artist in Jamaica,” Alkaline said in a video interview. “I think to distinguish myself from every other entertainer, why not just tat my eyes?” And he’s not too worried about the risks of the procedure, which is so new that not much is known about its implications (and has been banned in Oklahoma).

“Take it this way,” he said in the interview, defending his decision. “In the event, at any given time that this will pose a threat to my vision, I would just reverse it. … This is the 21st century so anything is possible.”