Don't you just love Hearts for Hearts Girls dolls? They're so pretty, but what's with that purple eye disease some of them get?

I kept seeing so many of these purple-eye dolls on eBay and wondering if anything could be done for them. I had never done eye surgery on a H4H doll, so the thought was a little intimidating, but I couldn't see one of these otherwise perfect beautiful dolls being diminished in this way.


Now I know some people really like the unusual effect on their dolls, but it's just never worked for me, so I decided to see if I could replace the eyes on one of these dolls.


I found a decent Tipi doll on eBay with eye issues plus a small ink spot on her face, but otherwise quite perfect. So I brought her home to see what I could do.


The ink spot was easy. Although it didn't come off with any usual scrubbing or cleaners, an hour or two in the sun with benzoyl peroxide took that "after factory beauty spot" right off!


The eyes were another issue; getting them out was trickier than I thought it would be. But finally with a lot of heat and poking and wedging about, I managed to get them out!

(I don't recommend doing this to your dolls, just saying!)


Even then that wasn't the end of it. I also had a bit of trouble finding a decent match to the original. The issue is that H4H dolls eyes have a very large iris and many acrylic eyes just don't come that way. The iris is often smaller, which would give the doll a different look.


But I happened to finally find some that had much closer dimensions at a BJD supply store. Happy day!


And really, as long as I was changing out her eyes, why not make them a cool new color? Heck, there was no end to the possibilities now! Besides the original dark brown, I thought a pale teal green or an ocean yellow-green or would match her skin tone well. . . I decided to go for the ocean green.


If I thought getting the eyes out was tricky, getting them in was trickier! I was able to do one, but the vinyl cooled off too much before I could get the other eye in.


-which if you're wondering, it did make me a bit nervous having to apply heat to her face with one eye already in. I was afraid I would ruin it!

So I used cotton balls over the eye to protect it, hoping that cotton was not a good conductor of heat, and went ahead with heating up the vinyl again to get the other eye in. Well, my persistence paid off. Wow, she looks so cool with her new green eyes, which really set off her tan skin and jet black hair!


Since I had taken Tipi's clothes to use on my other Tipi (who had come to me buck naked w/jewelry) I dressed green-eyed Tipi in a cute outfit with leggings, boots, and a jacket. Like a boss!