Birmingham, UK - An ink addicted man from Birmingham, who goes by King of Ink Land King Body Art the Extreme Ink-Ite, opened up about going briefly blind in his tattooed eyes.

Formerly known by the name Matthew Whelan, King of Ink Land King Body Art the Extreme Ink-Ite has made a name of himself by covering his entire body in increasingly radical tattoos.

While he's complained at times that some people are "terrified" of his look, he has no regrets and, until four years ago, continued to modify his inkings.

He even invested in subdermal implants, but was forced to remove them in 2024 after they started rotting under his skin.

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In a recent interview with Need to Know, the 46-year-old opened up about one of the most terrifying experiences of his extreme tattoo career.

After a four-year break from tattooing, which he took in order to pay off his mortgage, King of Ink Land wanted to celebrate being out of debt by getting a hand tattoo. When he did, he went blind for 40 minutes.

"I went temporarily blind for around 40 minutes," the Birmingham man – who has dark-black tattooed eyeballs – said.

"When my vision returned, it was blurry, and I had vertigo, with everything spinning," he continued.

"It was so scary... It was so bad, I couldn't use my phone, and so I had to flag down police officers on the main road."

"The good news is that after hours of examinations and tests, they've ruled out a stroke and said my eyes all look fine," he said.

"It was the first time the specialist had dealt with somebody that had tattooed eyeballs... It's not clear what caused this, but it's given me a wake-up call to be careful about what I do next."