For Your Eyes Only. For heavily-fringed, lustrous and alluring eyelashes, Castor oil and a biotin-rich diet are the perfect combination.
20 August 2013
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For Your Eyes Only The Bridge MAG. Image
As the application of false eyelashes among two thirds of women leaves eyelids sore, swollen, bloodshot, prone to infection, or even at risk of cancer, Castor oil would seem to be the safer alternative.
One of the features that distinguishes men from women is their eyelashes. Women’s eyelashes tend to be longer, thicker, curlier and more alluring than men’s. In fact, eyelashes are so closely associated with femininity that they have perennially been a focus of cosmetic enhancement. The beauty industry and its salons of today charge, on average, between £100 and £350 for a full set of false eyelashes, which can take up to 95 minutes to fix.
However, the obvious beauty benefits aside, the risks associated with false eyelashes are very real. Among other risks, they can actually damage eyesight! There are very real dangers to the continuous use of false eyelashes: as an investigation into serious eye issues among celebrities uncovered, health risks range from allergic reactions and irritation to serious infections.
In an article entitled ‘Eyelash extensions can pose health risks, the popular trend can cause allergic reactions, infections, and more…’ published on May 2013, physician, journalist and Medical Adviser at Consumer Reports, Dr Orly Avitzur, wrote: “The risks of eyelash extensions are not only an allergic reaction to the glue but the erosion of the inner surface of the eyelids. And they cause permanent damage to your natural lashes.”
Fatal beauty: the flip side of false eyelashes.
Recent studies have shown that chronic exposure to urea-formaldehyde-based materials (present in false eyelash glues can even increase cancer risk)
Eyelash extensions are semi-permanent, synthetic extensions that are glued over our natural eyelashes and onto the skin of the eyelids using specially formulated glue which has adhesive properties that last for three to six weeks. Eyelash extensions are not to be confused with the self-stick strip or individual single-event accessories, those more obviously synthetic clusters of lashes knotted together.
The only way to permanently replace one’s natural eyelashes is to have eyelash transplants. This procedure costs around £4, 500, and is performed under anaesthetic, by a cosmetic surgeon.
Eyelash extensions can easily trap dirt and bacteria.
It is believed that the formaldehyde-based glue used during the process can create irritation and infection in the skin of the eyelids. The extensions themselves can also prove very difficult to safely remove. Health effects occur when urea-formaldehyde based materials and products release formaldehyde into the air.
Broadly speaking, there are no major health issues from formaldehyde air-contact, since concentrations tend to below 1.0ppm – ppm stands for Parts Per Million, generally used to measure and denote the concentration of chemical in very low quantity.- However, respiratory irritation, and even cancer risk, can result when the formaldehyde air-contact concentrations exceed 3.0-5.0 ppm.
This provokes in some such warning symptoms as watery eyes, nose irritations, wheezes, coughes, as well as fatigue, skin rash, severe allergic reactions, burning sensations in the eyes and throat, nausea, and difficulty breathing in some people.
Also known as urea-methanal for its common synthesis pathway and overall structure, formaldehyde-based materials previously raised safety concerns in the 1980s, when it was first realised that its regular application caused a variety of adverse health effects impacting on the eyes, nose, and respiratory system, as well as increasing cancer risks. The bad news is that an ‘addiction’ to artificial eyelashes can cause an irreversible erosion of our natural ones.
A spokesperson from the Royal College of Ophthalmologists recently warned that “Repeated use…
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Rachel Tcheungna, Author, Writer of
The Bridge Books and
The Bridge Magazine Editor.