IF you wear eyeliner on a certain part of your eye you could end up with blocked oil glands, one expert has warned.
A TikTok doctor revealed that people who wear eyeliner on their waterline – the line of skin between the eyelashes and the eye – could end up secreting a tooth-paste like substance.
One expert has warned people to not use eyeliner on their waterlineCredit: tiktok/bettervision
Many people wear eyeliner in this spot, but long term use can be dangerous and leave you with severe dry eye.
Optometrist Dr Brittani Carver-Schemper posted a video on TikTok explaining why doctors don’t recommend you wear eyeliner on your waterline.
She had been examining a patient and filmed what damage using the cosmetic can do.
“This patient has worn eyeliner on her waterline since she was a teenager.
“The reasons doctors do not recommend to wear eyeliner on the waterline is because there are specialised glands there that produce and excrete oil.
“The oil should be an olive oil texture but as you can see here it looks more like toothpaste.
“That means that there glands are obstructed and are not producing healthy tears.”
Dr Brittani showed what the waterline was filled with after years of the patient using eyeliner on her waterline
The images above from an Occulus picture show the damage wearing eyeliner can do
She also said that without fully functioning Meibomian Glands the eyes are unable to produce quality tears.
This in turn could lead to dry eye disease, she told BuzzFeed.
She added the only way to avoid it was to not use pencil or liquid eyeliner on the waterline.
“It doesn’t matter what kind of eyeliner it is, all of them can obstruct the oils glands and cause irreversible gland damage”, she said.
Dry eye is a condition affecting around 20 per cent of people in the UK.
Dr Britanni explained that one way of detecting if the glands are blocked is to use a Occulus machine – this takes pictures of the eye and can reveal how obstructed the glands have become.
Speaking to The Sun, Saffron Hughes, make-up artist at FalseEyelashes.co.uk said the skin around your eyes is 10x more delicate than the skin elsewhere, so when removing eyeliner, you should be extra careful.
If you’re unsure if you have dry eye syndrome, one expert explained what the condition feels like.
Jonathon Bench, Director Professional Affairs International – Dry Eye & Ocular Health at Alcon, makers of Systane® COMPLETE – said the condition is most simply described as a reduced amount of tears either through not producing enough or them evaporating too readily.
What to avoid when it comes to eyeliner
If you want to avoid dry eye and other eye issues, there are things you can do.
Makeup artist Saffron Hughes told The Sun that you need to take extra care when applying and removing eye makeup.
She explained: “Eyeliner requires makeup remover that will dissolve the product before it can be removed.
“Soak a cotton pad with eye makeup remover and press gently to the eye for 30 seconds.
“You should choose soft pads which don’t shed cotton, to avoid any irritation to the eye.
“After 30 seconds, swipe downwards and away, and use a cotton bud saturated in makeup remover to clean between the lashes and any excess product left underneath the waterline.”
She said if there is still product left after this then all you need to do is repeat the process.
What to avoid
Saffron said you should generally avoid glittery eyeliners as the glitter particles can spread to your eye within 5 minutes and irritate them.
She added: “Be sure to change your eyeliner every 6 months if it is liquid or gel.”
He added: “It is a common condition; however, it can often be misunderstood or confused with other eye related problems as they may have similar symptoms such as irritable, red, stinging and scratchy eyes.
“The good news is that the symptoms of dry eye can be managed, so long as you know what to look out for so you can correctly identify the cause.”
To prevent dry eye then, as Dr Brittani said, you should stop wearing eyeliner on your waterline.
You can also make small lifestyle changes such as cutting down on screen time and wearing sunglasses when outdoors to protect your eyes from windy and dry conditions
