Actions

Senate committee approves bill banning eye tattooing in Indiana

Bill now heads to the full Senate for discussion
Posted at 5:50 PM, Jan 08, 2018
and last updated 2018-01-09 09:46:02-05

INDIANAPOLIS -- A Senate committee has approved a bill that would ban eyeball tattooing in the state of Indiana and fine anyone who performed them or offered them in the state up to $10,000. 

The bill, authored by Indiana State Senator John Ruckelshaus (R-IN), would prohibit the act of "performing or offering to perform" scleral tattooing in the state of Indiana. 

It now heads to the full Senate for discussion. 

Ruckelshaus says the practice is uncommon and he does not know of any tattoo shops in the state that offer eye tattooing but he calls his bill a "proactive step" and hopes to ban the practice before the trend makes it to the Hoosier state. 

The bill also includes an exception for licensed health care professionals when the tattooing is performed in the "scope of the health care professional's practice."

Under the bill, the attorney general would be able to accept complaints and seek penalties up to $10,000 per violation as well as an injunction to restrain the person from performing scleral tattooing in the state of Indiana. 

According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, getting an eyeball tattoo can lead to loss of vision or in some cases even more serious consequences. 

MORE TOP STORIES |  Stranger donates car to mother after carjacking suspect crashes into her | Photos: The faces of 2017's homicide victims | Family desperately searching for Indianapolis woman missing since Dec. 15 | Victim in fatal wrong-way crash on I-465 identified | HOME TOUR: Amazing contemporary in Herron Morton for $850,000

Top Trending Videos