Under the procedure, an artificial silicon lens with the colour of the patient's choice is placed on top of the original iris. It costs about Rs.450,000.
"Since I started in February last year, I have carried out 60 such operations. Of them, only 10 are from India, the rest are from different parts of the world," Varkey told IANS.
Varkey is associated with the Vasan Eyecare Hospital and also travels to other parts of India if his patients so require.
"I started the iris implant for medical reasons. I came to know about brightocular implant online when I had to treat a boy with a damaged iris," Varkey said.
"The process of implanting the iris for medical purposes was done earlier too, but with the brightocular iris implant, the cosmetic reasons have been on the rise," Varkey added.
