All You Need to Know About Eye Problems Associated with Eye Makeup

  Last Updated on September 20, 2024 by Aaron Barriga

“A woman without paint is like food without salt.”
– PlatusFor centuries, cosmetics have played a crucial role in beautifying women. One of the features that women love to enhance is their eyes. In ancient times, Egyptian women applied dark green color to their under the lid and soot or antimony to darken their lashes and upper eyelids. Times have changed and so are the makeup trends.

Although modern women still use cosmetics to enhance their eyes, the styles and colors have changed. If used correctly eye makeup can maintain your eye health and make your eyes sparkle, but if used incorrectly, it can ruin your eye health and make your eyes susceptible to eye infections.

Eye Health: Eye Problems Associated with Eye Makeup

The eye health problems that arise due to eye makeup:

1. Scratched Cornea: You can accidentally damage your cornea while applying mascara or eyeliner. The damage can seriously infect the eye. Learn more about scratched cornea here.
2. Conjunctivitis: If the product is expired or not properly concealed, there are high chances of bacterial growth, thereby contaminating the product. When this product is applied, an eye infection can occur.
3. Allergic Reactions: Some chemicals or ingredients present in the product can cause an allergic reaction in you. The allergic reaction can manifest in the form of irritation, redness, swelling, or infection.

10 Ways To Avoid Eye Makeup Related Eye Problems

1. Never share. You wouldn’t want another person’s bacteria to get into your eyes. Your eye makeup is just yours to use.
2. Avoid applying eyeliner on the inside of the lash line.
3. Always use a sharpened eyeliner pencil to be precise in your application.
4. Avoid expired product. It is easy for bacteria and fungi to grow on creamy or liquid eye makeup after the product has reached its expiry. If your eye makeup is changing color and texture or smelling weird, then it’s time to toss them away. Each eye makeup product you use has an expiry date.

   When should you toss your eye makeup

   Eye Makeup	Expiry
   Mascara	3-6 months
   Brow Pencil	2 years
   Cream Eyeshadow	6-8 months
   Liquid/Gel Eyeliner	3-4 months
   Kohl	6 months

5. Replace all your eye makeup products after an eye infection in order to avoid bacteria from spreading.
6. Refrain from applying eye makeup while driving or in a moving vehicle. You wouldn’t want to cause eye injuries with a wrong stroke of an applicator.
7. Remove eye makeup before you go to bed because even a tiny speck of eyeliner, eyeshadow, or mascara left in or around your eye can be the cause of an eye infection.
8. If you tend to have a lot of skin allergies, it is a good idea to introduce new makeup products one at a time. So, if an allergy occurs, you can pinpoint the product. Avoid using products that contain harmful chemicals or ingredients that have not been tested yet.
9. If you have had an eye surgery, it is best not to wear any makeup. Consult your ophthalmologist in Fresno, CA before using makeup on your eyes. If it’s safe to use, discard the old makeup and wear only fresh new makeup.