From the Cinnamon Challenge to the Tide Pod Challenge, some bizarre trends have circulated on social media in recent years.
Now, a dangerous new trend is circulating on TikTok, in which teens try to use their smartphone camera flash to change the colour of their eyes.
The trend appears to have started after TikTok user Maliabroo posted a video, claiming that the platform has a new filter called ‘S5’ that changes your eye colour when used with flash.
In her video, she explained: “If you have brown eyes…this filter turns them blue! S5 + back camera and flash.”
She then ended the video showing that her eyes were blue, despite having been brown at the start of the video.
Several keen viewers attempted the challenge themselves, and unsurprisingly, it didn’t work.
One commenter said: “I went blind and no blue eyes,” while another added: “And now I am blind.”
The S5 filter is actually just a pre-set filter on TikTok which adds a blue tinge to videos, and doesn’t change your eye colour at all.
Worryingly, using a camera flash in your eye can lead to ‘flash blindness’ - temporary dark spots in your vision.
Optimax Eye Surgery explained: “If you’ve ever looked at a bright light, you’ll know that once you glance away, you tend to see dark spots in your vision for the following seconds or minutes.
“This is called flash blindness and occurs when a bright light overwhelms your retina. The retinal pigment is temporarily bleached by a bright, sudden light and returns to normal as the pigment regenerates.
“When a light is particularly intense, however, a permanent retinal burn can occur through the same process. In this case, the retinal pigment doesn’t recover, leaving a small blind spot.”
If you do want to change the colour of your eyes for a video, thankfully there is an easy way to do this on TikTok.
How to safely ‘change the colour of your eyes’ on TikTok
- Hit the + icon to create a new video
- Tap the Effects icon
- On the Popular tab, scroll down until you reach the smiley emoji with blue eyes. Tap this filter
- Your eyes will now change colour - without the need to shine light in your eyes!
