Makeup trends and your EYE health

Let’s face it, most women from any age group, we feel we should “enhance our beauty” with the help of makeup. For most, wearing makeup is part of our daily routine, and we never think about how wearing makeup may impact our health.

I recently went to my yearly eye checkup, and besides learning that my eyes need a slight stronger prescription, I learned a lot regarding the effects of certain makeup trends and the health of the eye. My Optometrist (who initially had a chuckle when I mentioned I would be creating a blog post regarding our conversation), thought it was a great idea to share the information, for many may not have an idea about the impact of eye makeup on our eyes.

I will keep this post as simple as possible, I will avoid super gross pictures of eye problems (I will leave you to search more on it if you would like to see more detailed pics) but I just want to share the main points.

Waterline Makeup

Most of you are familiar with waterline eyeliner. It is when you apply eyeliner to the inside part of your eyelid (could be just top, bottom or both.)

My Dr. was examining my eye, and he noticed I was wearing eyeliner in my waterline. He asked me if I noticed that my eyes are more watery than usual whenever I wear eyeliner here, and I said yes. He explained that around our entire eye lids we have small glands called the Meibomian Glands,

These glands secrete oils that are essential to mix with our natural tears and keep our eyes at the right moisture level. When we wear eyeliner inside the waterline, we are blocking these glands; therefore, the natural tears do not have enough oil to mix with and they evaporate quicker and our eyes produce a lot more to compensate for the fast evaporation to help maintain our eyes lubricated. Making our eyes very watery! Furthermore, if we wear this eyeliner often, the glands can become blocked causing cysts, infections and gland permanent atrophy. Sometimes doctors can unblock these glands (I will not put a picture of this procedure because it made my eyes hurt just looking at it but you are welcome to search it)

SOLUTION : do not wear eyeliner inside your waterline (at least not often and not in prolonged times), wear it on your lash line. And don’t forget to take your makeup off before going to bed.

LASH EXTENSIONS

The latest beauty trend are Lash extensions, it seems as if there is a lash place in every other corner. Yes they can look beautiful, women enjoy having full lashes and not deal with mascara. I asked the Optometrist about this new trend, and this is what he informed me:

Often use of Lash Extensions can cause many eye health issues. He begins with the most obvious which is eye irritation due to a sensitivity/allergy to the adhesive (used to attach lashes to your lids), or to the lashes themselves. This explains why I have noticed many of my friends to have puffy eyelids and teary eyes when wearing lash extensions. He explained that this sort of surgical adhesive is not really meant to be worn in such prolonged times, and many people show a type of reaction or sensitivity to it, even in a short amount of time. So, if your eyelid is a little puffy, red, or you notice your eyes are tearing up more than usual, you my friend have a reaction to the adhesive and should not wear lash extensions.

Secondly, the purpose of our eyelashes (besides looking super cute and flirty) is to serve as a shield to the eye and protect it from dust, debris, etc. Eyelashes are meant to be properly washed and rinsed when we shower or wash our face. As you may know, when you have lash extensions you cannot rub on them; therefore, you cannot clean them properly. This can create a perfect breeding ground for bacteria, causing eye irritation, and infections.

So what is a girl supposed to do for long luscious eyelashes?

SOLUTION:

If you are not allergic or show a sensitivity to lash extensions, you can wear them for special occasions (weddings, etc) but must be removed soon after.

You can always opt to wearing the removable fake eyelashes as well, which will allow you to properly clean them and clean your eyelid.

And of course, final choice can also be to wear good ol’ mascara to enhance your eyelashes. I have found a very nice one and gives me great results. You can see it HERE. As with any makeup, just make sure to remove at bed time.

I hope this information helped you, and I would encourage for you to talk about this with your Optometrist on your next visit to make sure you are choosing the best option for your eyes.

Thank you for stopping by!

Ana