While we may think of makeup as just a fun way to enhance our features or doll us up for special events, vision specialists are warning us to remember that, if we’re not careful, makeup could have disastrous impacts on our health and even eyesight.
Nimmi Mistry, professional services optician at Vision Direct has warned that some of our guilty habits when it comes to makeup could be far more dangerous than we thought.
The makeup habits that could cause blindness
Doing your make-up on the go
One that many of us do on an almost daily basis is doing or even just topping up our makeup while we travel.
A recent study, by Vision Direct, swabbed the London tube lines to reveal the bacteria lurking and the results were grim.
The swabs discovered that on the Victoria line seat there were exceptionally high colony-forming units (CFU) of 16000 for E. coli. On the Metropolitan line there were traces of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (400 CFU) and Faecal Streptococci and enterococci (960 CFU) on the seat and the pole (80 CFU).
Mistry warned that the impact of this type of bacteria can be sight-threatening. Some symptoms of this type of infection include:
- Pain and Redness
- Discharge
- Blurry Vision
- Photophobia
- Ulceration
Going to bed with makeup still on
I’ll admit, I thought this was just bad because it could cause breakouts of spots and blackheads.
However, Mistry said: “Not removing makeup before bed can cause makeup debris to make its way into the eye, leading to the cornea gets scratched, and rubbing your eyes in the morning can only make matters worse.
“Once you have a corneal abrasion, bacteria and fungi can more easily infiltrate the eye, leading to infectious keratitis.”
If this is not treated promptly, these infections can encourage the growth of blood vessels in the cornea, leading to scarring; and untreated keratitis can lead to possible blindness.
In fact, a recent study stated that infectious keratitis is among the top five leading causes of blindness globally.
Yikes.
Not cleaning brushes and applicators
Find yourself constantly putting off cleaning your brushes and applicators? You could be putting your health at risk.
Mistry explained: “A 2020 study found that make-up brushes were found to have staphylococcus aureus present. This is a major pathogen of the eye able to infect the tear duct, eyelid, conjunctiva, cornea, anterior and posterior chambers, and the vitreous chamber.
“One infection this could lead to is bacterial conjunctivitis.”
Symtpoms of bacterial conjunctivitis include:
- Yellow or green sticky discharge in one or both eyes that forms a crust during the night that may prevent your eye or eyes from opening in the morning
- Redness in one or both eyes
- Itchiness in one or both eyes
- A gritty feeling in one or both eyes
- Tearing/ watery eyes
- Photophobia
Mistry advises cleaning makeup brushes every 7-10 days.
Using expired makeup
A survey from Face the Future found that over 80% of people don’t track expiry dates on their makeup products. However, according to Mistry, this could be putting your health at risk.
Mistry said: “Even though makeup contains preservatives that help prevent bacteria from living in the products, they can still be contaminated with regular use.
“Take mascara for example, the spool touches the eyelashes and then is placed back inside the product. This happens repeatedly, often without the spool being cleaned, leading to the spread of bacteria to the eyes.”
These are some good rules of thumb for makeup:
- Mascara and liquid eyeliner typically are considered safe to use for three months, six months maximum. Liquid products used near the eye have an increased risk of spreading bacteria
- Pencil-style eyeliners and gel eyeliners can be used for up to a year
- Powder products, such as eye shadows, if stored properly, free from moisture and used with clean brushes/applicators, are good for up to two years
Sharing makeup products
While we’d trust our besties with our lives, nevermind a quick swish of our mascara, Mistry warns that this can be really harmful, saying: “Your eyes are the most sensitive part of your face which contains a lot of personalised bacteria so by sharing makeup you’re essentially trading germs.
“Cross-contamination occurs when you use the same brushes, mascara, eyeshadow and eyeliner with someone else. This person could have an infection such as bacterial conjunctivitis which is highly contagious.”
She added that the person you are sharing makeup with may not even know they have an infection, but this won’t stop it spreading through sharing makeup.
Good point!