An Australian woman suffered an eye problem associated with conjunctivitis (inflammation of the conjunctiva) and damage to the cornea after she wore mascara every day and never washed it off.
According to a report published in the May issue of the journal Ophthalmology, the 50-year-old woman went to the eye doctor complaining of a feeling that something had gone into her eyes.
After the doctor examined the underside of Theresa Lynch's eyes, it was revealed that she had darkly pigmented lumps under the conjunctiva (the mucous membrane that covers the front of the eye and the inner sides of the eyelids). Moreover, few of the lumps had even broken through the surface of the conjunctiva.
Lynch admitted that she used to wear heavy mascara for more than 25 years and had a habit of not taking it off.
Her doctor, Dana Robaei told the Daily Mail that the dark lumps were caused by the buildup of bits of mascara under Lynch's eyelids. She said that Lynch's eyes could have become infected and in a rare case scenario could have lost her vision.
Robaei is an ophthalmic surgeon and clinical senior lecturer at the University of Sydney School of Medicine
"[The lumps] were embedded so deep that particles were building up on top of each other... I was so uncomfortable. My eyelids were swollen and heavy because I left it [untreated] for so long," Lynch said, according to the report.
Following her diagnosis, Lynch underwent a 90-minute procedure to get the lumps removed. However, she still has permanent scarring on her eyelids, as reported by Daily Mail.
Robaei urged everyone who wears mascara to remove it meticulously at the end of the day.
Mascaras are also known to damage the eyelashes with all that pulling and tugging during removal. Make sure your mascara doesn't have chemicals like parabens, sulfates, and phthalate, which are known to irritate the skin.
Also if you are wearing mascara, take good care of your lashes. Apply a thin layer of vitamin E or castor oil every night to provide nutrition to your lashes.
