Haley Dean, a Nashville hairstylist and mother, said for years that getting eye lash extensions made her feel ‘so pretty.’
That was until her eyes became inflamed, red and itchy and her entire face began to swell.
In a panic, she rushed to urgent care to find out she had developed an allergy to her fake eye lashes and had to have them removed immediately or risk having her eyes swell shut, she explained on TikTok.
And she is far from alone, according to Dr Will Flanary, an Oregon-based ophthalmologist. In a post on X, Dr Flanary said these popular beauty treatments ‘look horrifying’ when patients come in complaining of eye pain and discomfort.
He added that fake eyelashes ‘frequently result in red, itchy, swollen, irritated eyelids. The eye doctor called them ‘a sebaceous swamp,’ referencing the dirt and oil that builds up under the false lashes, which becomes the perfect breeding ground for infections.
Eyelash extensions can lead to infection, allergy and shedding your natural eyelashes, experts say. Improper care can also lead to an infestation of tiny parasitic bugs.
In addition to the long lashes collecting and harboring germs and bacteria, the glue used to adhere them to the eyelid often contains irritating chemicals and can make your natural eyelashes fall out.
It can also cause populations of mites that live on your skin to grow rapidly, Dr Ashley Brissette, assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medicine and founder of Daily Practice, told Daily Mail.com.
When your lashes are clean, these mites are relatively sparse. But they like to feed on bacteria, and when they’re given more to eat, their numbers can explode, wreaking havoc on your eyelashes and leaving waxy deposits on the hair follicle.
And complications can arise no matter how clean and professional application is because the lashes often create unhygienic build up around the eye that’s a ‘breeding ground for bacteria,’ leading to the mite infestations, Dr Carly Rose, an Ohio based Optometrist, said on TikTok.
Despite these warnings, the eyelash extension market is booming. It was valued at $1.4billion in 2020, and is projected to surge to $2.3billion by 2028, according to Verified Market Research.
Eyelash extensions are tiny, hair-like fibers that estheticians place under, between or on top of your natural lash line using glue to create long, luscious lashes.
The lashes can be synthetic, silk or mink and are applied purely for cosmetic purposes. Application and touch ups can run between $75 and $300.
Dr Will Flanary, a trained ophthalmologist, also makes comedy videos online under the character name Dr Glaucomflecken.
They ideally last between six and eight weeks, and can fall naturally out on their own or be removed with a cleanser that breaks down the adhesive.
The technique, glue type and extension length vary based on the esthetician you visit, but the extensions can be used to create a natural look or more avant-garde style.
Many technicians use a glue that contains formaldehyde, Dr Rose said, which can be toxic, especially if you’re exposed to it frequently.
Seventy-five percent of professional eyelash glues tested by University of Minnesota researchers in 2022 contained formaldehyde, despite the fact that none of them included it on their label.
Formaldehyde is added to products to help preserve their shelf life or make them more adhesive, but it’s most commonly used to preserve dead bodies.
In high concentrations, it disrupts cellular function, and can cause shortness of breath, headache and skin irritation, according to the CDC.
Even if the glue doesn’t contain formaldehyde, users can develop an allergy to any adhesive or the lash itself. This can cause irritation, swelling and in extreme cases, can harm vision.
Additionally, Dr Brissette told this website the weight of the extensions can pull and irritate your natural lashes, which can make them break or fall out. With time, patient’s can rehab their eyelashes back to health, but it can take months and is an intensive process.
It involves avoiding eye products and regularly cleaning the area. If you had a more severe problem, like a mite infestation, you might also require a prescription medication to get your skin’s health back on track.
The Arkansas patient (pictured) from the case study who got a Demodex infestation from failing to clean her lashes properly.
Also, placing these foreign objects on the lash line gets in the way of crucial oil glands that lubricate the eye and skin, and can cause you to develop dry, irritated eyes.
This is part of the reason the extensions are nearly impossible to clean thoroughly, because the oil that would be naturally moving around the area can build up at the base of the lashes, along with dirt and dead skin.
This build up is an ideal environment for bacteria to grow, Dr Rose said. If your eyes weren’t already irritated, some of these bacteria release chemicals that inflame and irritate the eyes.
This can then attract tiny parasitic bugs, called Demodex, which live naturally on the skin. These eight-legged worm-like bugs like feeding on the bacteria around the eyelashes, so when a build up occurs, their populations can multiply.
When they multiple, they begin depositing waste on the eyelashes and sometimes, destabilizing the lash itself,
This scenario was documented in a case study in Arkansas, after a 32-year-old woman visited her eye doctor complaining of itchy, watery eyes and blurry vision.
Looking under the microscope, Optometrist Dr Jade Coats saw a thick, waxy build up at the base of the patient’s eyelashes.
Dr Coats discovered the patient, who had been avoiding cleaning her eyelashes, had developed an Demodex infestation, which had led to her symptoms.
She wrote the ‘large majority of patients’ who have extensions that aren’t removed properly develop some degree of this problem.
Dr Brissette summarized all the problems with fake lashes by explaining the extensions get in the way of how your eye is built to function.
Eyelashes are designed in a very specific way to support vision and keep foreign objects out of eyes.
‘I think, you know, our eyes and our eyelids and lashes have a specific function. You can, I think enhance them naturally somewhat with the mascara,’ Dr Brissette said, ‘but the thing you want to be cautious of is going overboard with it.’
Adding extensions that are too long can change the way you blink – leading to dry, irritated eyes.
If you’re still curious about lash extensions, Dr Brissette said it’s okay to use them once for special occasions, like a wedding or vacation, but getting lashes regularly is usually a bad idea.
If you do get them, she recommends double cleansing your eyelashes, first using eye makeup remover and gently scrubbing the lashes, and second, washing with a gentle face wash.
Doing this daily, even if you don’t have false lashes, will help your eyes look brighter and feel better, Dr Brissette said.
She added: ‘Whenever patients ask me, “Well, you know, is it safe to do or can I try it?” My advice is always, you know, nothing is black and white, but I would never recommend that somebody do these continuously.’
