Los Angeles Tattoo Artist Discusses the Dangers of Eyelid Tattoos

Los Angeles has brought our world many amazing things, from the Hollywood film industry to Leonardo Dicaprio. And when it comes to incredible innovations within the tattoo world, one of their greatest contributions comes from Carlos Macias of Cryptic Tattoo. Macias is one of the most recognizable West Coast style black-and-grey artists, specializing in intricate and unusual face tattoos. And one of his most popular requests from clients around the globe is eyelid tattoos.

11 years ago, Macias was first introduced to eyelid tattooing and went on to get his done after his expertise was requested by two different artists. Since then, Macias has done dozens of eyelid tattoos—which range from small lettering that can only be visible when the eyes are closed to large scale designs that span from the lash line to the brow. However, no matter if the client requests a small or large design, the process of tattooing the eyelids is the same and “they have to trust me, 100%,” says Macias.

When it comes to tattooing eyelids, artists need to be extremely precise and gentle. Not only is the skin very delicate, but there are dangers present when doing these tattoos. Macias says that it is possible to penetrate into their eyeball and hurt the client with a tattoo needle, however, this has never happened to him in has many years of inking eyelids. And he’s been able to avoid such dangers by tattooing eyelids with the proper technique and maintaining safety through the entire process.

Although Macias is definitely the most recognizable and respected tattooer who specializes in eyelid ink, many other artists offer the service. However, instead of going about these tattoos in a specialized way, he approaches eyelids like any other canvas on the body. “I don’t put a spoon under anyone’s eye like other artists do,” explains Macias. “I just tattoo the way I would anything else—with caution and style.”