#190: How Does Makeup Wear Cause Dry Eye?
Patients come to me every day because they can no longer wear their eye makeup. Their eyes are irritated, red, watery. They apply their makeup and later find it running down their face. They're frustrated because they can't wear the products that they love.
This happens so often. I want to give you three reasons that this is happening:
REASON #1) INFLAMMATION
Some eye makeups cause inflammation to your eyes. Have you ever put your mascara on and then your eyes started to burn? This is happening because the ingredients in that mascara were irritating to your eyes.
Did you know that women apply mascara nine times a week on average? That's more than once a day. Women are applying mascara multiple times a day. And if that mascara contains irritating ingredient, it will cause inflammation in your eyes.
Inflammation is understood to be the root cause of dry eye disease. When you apply makeup with toxic ingredients to your eyes it causes inflammation. Your eyes will become red, painful, swollen, and watery.
REASON #2) TOXIC INGREDIENTS
In an average day, women will use 15 self-care products. The United States has one of the most lenient laws regarding ingredients allowed in self-care products. They only 11 ingredients from cosmetics. Whereas, the European Union has banned over 1600 chemicals. This means that in the United States, the products that you are using on the most delicate part of your body, your eyes) are infused with toxins.
Recently, more brands have taken matters into their own hands and started removing toxic ingredients on their own. You can now see labels of “Paraben Free” or “Organic Ingredients”. Although these are steps in the right direction, it doesn’t mean that the product doesn’t contain other harmful ingredients as well. You must become a label reader to choose clean beauty products and avoid toxins.
In addition, groups have been taking public awareness into their own hands to make information about toxic ingredients available to the public. The Environmental Working Group, EWG, has a Skin Deep Database to rate the toxic ingredients of cosmetics. (More on that in the next blog.) And, the Mesothelioma Center has put together information to help consumers understand the presence of asbestos in makeup products as well. You can read the guide here.
Want to learn more about the use of talc in makeup products and how asbestos can contaminate talc? Read this article.
REASON #3) INCOMPLETE MAKEUP REMOVAL
Not removing makeup properly is the most common problem I see in my office every day. Leaving makeup on your lids and lashes while you sleep is the best way to produce an overgrowth of bacteria. Bacteria around your eyes is a normal part of you body’s biosystem. However, when the bacteria are giving cozy homes in the form of leftover makeup debris, they will multiply and start to cause damage to the eyelids and eyes.
In fact, my patients know that this is one of my rules that I never, ever, ever, ever break is sleeping in my eye makeup. It must be removed every night before you go to sleep. One of my favorite makeup removers is a microfiber cloth. To use it, just get it wet and wipe away your eye makeup with no chemicals at all, just in microfiber cloth.
I have several other favorites as I tend to use more than one. I like to remove my makeup with an oil-based makeup remover by We love Eyes. I use it with a cotton ball to melt away the mascara. Then, I will wash my eyes with a foaming cleanser. I use the Zocular foaming cleanser. And finally, I dry my eyes with a microfiber cloth to insure I have removed all the makeup remnants from around my eyes.
If you'd like to see a list of all of my favorite makeup removers, you can download it here.
CONCLUSIONS:
Improper makeup habits or ingredients will cause inflammation on your eyes. Inflammation is a key root cause of dry eye disease. In the United States, only 11 toxic chemicals are banned from the ingredient lists of cosmetics. So, inflammation causing ingredients are hiding in your favorite products that are applied to the delicate skin of your eyes every day. Many of these ingredients cause both inflammation and damage or death to the cells in the eyes and eyelids.
Not removing your eye makeup at the end of the day properly can cause a host of problems. Especially when this practice continues over years. Remnants of eye makeup become homes to harmful bacteria which cause damage to the structure of your eyelids. Removing your eye makeup at the end of the day is imperative to your long term eye health. Check out the list of all of my favorite makeup removers, and download it here.
