No stunt! - Savage defends eye surgery after viral photo

Dancehall artiste Savage is dismissing claims that he is pulling a publicity stunt after posting an Instagram photo wearing eye pads and asking for prayers. The post attracted a slew of comments from concerned fans to sceptics, all eager to find out the truth. Speaking to The STAR yesterday afternoon, Savage said he underwent eye surgery on Friday to remove cysts from his eyelids.

"It's not a stunt, if you go on my Instagram page you'll see a photo I have with my daughter and you'll see the lumps below my eye," he said. "I wouldn't need to do a stunt. If nothing nah gwaan fi you it just nah gwaan fi you, I don't need to do that. At the end of the day, there will be people who will rush to think negative and say that, but I'm thankful to my fans for supporting me."

He said the cysts first appeared in January, and while he was in the United States recently, a friend pointed out that his eyes were swollen.

no regression

"I left the US to do a show in Guyana, and I had to wear sunglasses during that performance," he revealed. "It was when I returned to Jamaica that I went to an ophthalmologist (eye doctor) in New Kingston, who told me I had to do surgery. She cut the lower lid of my eyes, and had to make four different cuts to remove the cysts. I had to basically wear a blindfold after until all the fluid drained out."

The Culu Culu entertainer said he is feeling better and hopes there will be no regression.

"I asked her (the doctor) what could have caused it and she basically said bacteria, like rubbing my eyes after I'm finished rolling weed or things like that. I'll have to wait and see if they will return, but everything looks good now."

In the meantime, Savage is gearing up for a series of shows in the US and Europe from this month into April, and also has new music to be released on his Savage Ent label.

"I have some songs that I wrote for producers that have not been released for different reasons, so I'm just going to release them on my label," he said. "I plan to add acts to my label as well in the future, but you know, to have other artistes you have to do a lot of promotion for them, so we want to make sure everything is right first."