Woman almost blind after eyelash extensions; experts weigh pros, dangers
MANILA, Philippines — Prom night – it is every girl’s dream to look like a prom queen even if the crown would eventually belong to only one head.
As such, for that big night, Haley Fetzer, a 17-year-old high school student from the US, went to have eyelash extensions. Since she barely wears makeup, she believed that having lengthy lashes would be enough to dress her up.
But lo and behold, after the procedure, her dream look quickly turned into a nightmare.
“When it first started, it looked like little broken blood vessels all pooled in the bottom of my eye. My first reaction was ‘oh my gosh they’re getting worse, it’s going to go to my pupil and I’m going to go blind’,” Haley recalled in an interview with Kennedy News.
To clear up what she described as “zombie” eyes, she used eye-whitening drops, which thankfully made her eyes clear and ready for prom.
Believing that she only had hay fever for living in the country, she underwent another eyelash procedure, and this time, the nightmare turned into a life-threatening disaster.
“Within two hours, my eyes were bloodshot red… It looked like there was blood pooling in my eyes and every time I blinked, goop was coming out of them,” she said.
“I started getting very severe headaches and felt a shocking sensation in one of my eyes… I had to blindly walk myself into the bathroom and put my eyes under running warm water and eventually I could peel them open.”
After contacting the lash technician, Haley was assured that the side effects would subside on their own. But the next day, not only did symptoms worsen. In the next four days, Haley was unable to open her eyes because mucus has blurred her vision.
The technician then prescribed Haley with a lubricant and antihistamines to clear the mucus.
“(It) burned so badly every time she’d take a lash off,” recalled the teen, who described the procedure of moving her lashes to “getting bitten by a million ants.”
Not only was Haley unable to go to work as a waitress in a smoothie shop because of her “Dawn of the Dead” eyes. “It probably took the full five weeks before my eyes were completely white again and for me to be motivated to go the gym and out in public,” she expounded.
Because of the ordeal, Haley vowed to never use false eyelashes or extensions ever again.
“Just be aware that this can happen and if you have sensitive skin, it’s probably not the best idea,” she cautioned everyone about potential adverse reactions to eyelash extension glue.
Before Haley, a woman from the United Kingdom was reported last April to have suffered from swollen eyelids following an extension procedure – a look she likened to having boxed for 10 rounds with Mike Tyson.
In 2018, 20-year-old Megan Rixson went viral on Twitter after sharing a selfie of her after temporarily losing sight when a salon allegedly used nail glue on her eyelash extension.
Beauty queen lashes
Thankfully, Miss Universe Philippines (MUPH) 2020 first runner-up Ysabella Ysmael so far had no horror stories to tell about having eyelash extensions. As a brand ambassador for eyelash and nail salon Ayumi Philippines for over two years now, Bella has had her eyelashes extended, repaired and retouched by the salon chain for several times.
“I personally love waking up beautiful,” the niece of Miss Universe 1973 Margie Moran told Philstar.com in an interview exclusive on why she loves to have extended lashes.
“For me, I’m the type wherein my hair is wash and wear. I like to just get up and go, so having that is just perfect because I don’t spend so much time thinking about if my lashes are perfectly curled. I can feel confident without having to add anything extra,” enthused Bella, whose favorite eyelash style is a natural look with three lengths leading to a cat eye “because it gives me a little bit of sass but still natural.”
Likewise, Jedidah Korinihona, Filipino-Solomon Islander model and MUPH 2021 and 2022 finalist, loves having prolonged lashes because it was “painless” and “comfortable.”
“The first time I saw myself in the mirror, I said, ‘Wow, I’m so pretty’,” she told Philstar.com in a separate interview.
“As a livestreamer and I do model sometimes, it’s good to always appear presentable and it takes so much time to apply makeup, hair. It’s really beneficial to have your lashes done in a salon… It saves you so much time to be prettier.”
Ayumi Philippines, according to owner Candy Hernando, has been catering to customers as young as 15 years old, particularly, those going to prom like Haley Fetzer. In fact, according to Candy, her own daughter had eyelash extensions for the same reason at 15.
As such, Hernando assured that her eyelash studio partnered with the biggest eyelash company in Japan, which also supplies the Philippine lash salon with technical skills and premium cruelty-free hair and glue made in Japan.
“I wanted to bring to the Philippines a safer option for Filipino women to have their eyelashes and nails done without compromising safety. I wanted for the products and services to be at par with Japanese technology because I worked and lived there for 20 years,” shared Hernando about their salon chain’s supplies that have the safety approval of the Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration.
She said the materials they use are vitamins-infused to protect the natural lash from falling off.
“Even the glue is vitamin-enriched so it doesn’t damage the eyes,” Hernando vouched in an interview with Philstar.com at her studio’s 30th branch opening in the Philippines located in SM Mall of Asia, with more branches sprouting in the coming months.
The lashes are so safe, she assured, that not only can one sleep in them; one can also swim and even dive with them on.
As such, even celebrities like Yassi Pressman, Maggie Wilson, Gabbi Garcia, Denise Laurel, and Arci Munoz are regular clients of the salon chain, said Hernando.
“I’m addicted, they’re obsessed, they can’t live with it,” she shared her clients’ usual feedback.
Harvard Medical School warns that chemicals, such as lash glue, can injure the eyes and eye injury is an emergency because “inflammation can turn into a silent killer.”
This sight-saving month, remember that the adage “no pain, no gain” should not include the eyes, which provide the most important of all senses – sight. In the case of eyelash extensions, beauty is in the eyes – but beauty is not worth losing your eyes for.
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