Tattoos are so common these days that you can't swing a bucket bag without smacking someone with lower-back ink or delicate finger work. Well, a new viral mugshot is showing that there really are no limits when it comes to body modification.
Yahoo Beauty reports that the South Carolina's Lancaster Police Department photographed a woman with ink on her forehead, neck, and even around her lips — but it's her black eyes that caught the attention of the internet.
Lancaster police arrested Morgan Joyce Varn for armed robbery on April 24, posting the mugshot to Facebook and asking the community for any additional information regarding the robbery. Instead of getting clues, however, commenters bombarded the image with questions and stray observations.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
"What is wrong with her eyes?" a commenter asked.
"How does a person have all black eyeballs?" another posted.
Finally, one savvy user explained it all: "The whites of her eyes have been tattooed dark."
Yahoo Beauty enlisted the help of body modification specialist Luna Cobra, who explained that Varn has sclera tattoos. "Yes, this person does have eyeball tattoos," Cobra noted. He adds that he invented the sclera tattoo a decade ago, so if anyone could identify it, it's him. "It is not like a normal tattoo; it is more like an implant of ink in the membrane that covers the white of the eye. People from all walks of life get the eyeball tattoo. The eyeball tattoo has become a trend in some prisons, so perhaps the criminal in the photo had it done there."
So, no, this isn't a mugshot capturing photographic evidence of a demonic possession, as some commenters have suggested. It's just a very rare tattoo — and a dangerous one, if done incorrectly, Luna stresses. In fact, people have gone blind after attempting to get a sclera tattoo.
Cobra has a clean slate, he says, adding that he's pressured government agencies to ban the practice to no avail. In the meantime, now that you know that it's possible to have all-black peepers, the photo of Varn is sure to haunt your nightmares for a few weeks.