“The eyes convey a lot of information about a person,” says Paul Deslandes, a history professor at the University of Vermont and author of 2021’s The Culture of Male Beauty in Britain: From the First Photographs to David Beckham. “It’s how you connect in the first instance when you meet someone.” Deslandes says that when we talk about meeting a person, we often cite the eyes as a distinguishing feature. We say that the eyes are psychic, piercing or seductive, and that we can understand something about a person’s inner life, about their very essence, by looking at them.
Deslandes notes that our understanding of eyes changed with the rise in the 19th century of physiognomy, a pseudoscience that claimed that a person’s moral character could be judged by physical appearance. Through newspaper cartoons and pamphlets, columnists or “physiognomists” would interpret a person’s trustworthiness or nature based on the shape and distance of the eye or the structure of the eyelids. “There was a real statement about the importance of the eyes and what you could infer from them, and people really became obsessed with the attractiveness of the eyes,” says Deslandes.
Given the history and mythology surrounding eyes, it stands to reason that changing the eye can, in some way, change some element of who we are – or change people’s perception of us. This has resulted in a number of more extreme procedures that don’t just remove excess skin, but make more significant modifications, often with greater risk. A canthoplasty, for example, also focuses on the outer corner of the eye, lifting it to create a “more pleasing” look. Daniel Ezra, a Harley Street surgeon, offers an ‘tonsil eye’ procedure, a specialist version of an blepharoplasty.
There are even procedures that can, in theory, permanently change the color of your iris. The cornea is cut and a colored silicone lens is placed or laser therapy is used to lighten the shade of darker eyes. These surgeries are extremely dangerous and illegal in the US and Europe. The American Academy of Ophthalmology warns that these procedures can cause permanent eye damage or even blindness.
Not that you need to go to such lengths to see what these features could achieve. Anyone with a smartphone and a rudimentary understanding of social media can use a filter to digitally manipulate their face – to give you smooth, glassy skin, high, angular cheekbones, neck tattoos or perfectly applied makeup. At one time, patients brought in pictures of a celebrity taken from its pages Us Weekly to their plastic surgeon, begging for Brad Pitt’s defined jawline or Bella Hadid’s pout. today, they simply bring a screenshot of themselves, gently reshaped by the magic of augmented reality overlays built into many social media apps.
I recently downloaded one of the filters that can change one’s eye color, placing a shimmery blue or a tantalizing hazel over one’s irises. The result was incredibly vivid. If I had piercing blue eyes I would look like a Disney villain – more attractive, perhaps, but also foreboding and slightly sinister. I sent these photos to my friends, who responded with enthusiasm, and sent theirs in return, all of us exchanging peer reviews of our new, fantastic looks. It was a fun way to spend an afternoon.
Later that night I found myself looking at my selfies again, this time more carefully. How different would my life be with, say, glowing green eyes? Would they see me as more attractive? Less reliable? Would blue eyes make me look better – the type of guy who commands a room when he walks into it? I might have been richer or happier. Maybe people would see me differently.
Or, as the physiognomists of the past argued, perhaps something vital to my very essence would change. I looked into my own, false eyes for a moment longer, and those false eyes stared back, like Narcissus confused by his own reflection. Finally, I put the phone down and went to sleep. it was late and my eyes were tired.
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Photo by Jackson Bowley
Model, Tom M in imm
Hair from Sharon Robinson
Makeup by Elaine Lynskey using Clé De Peau Beauté
Casting from MC Barnes
Items from Tara Holmes
