At least a dozen women have been blighted by an outbreak of mites on their eyelids from dirty eyelash extensions.
Salon-fit lashes are a heavy duty habit: they cost up to $300 a set, and take around two hours to put on.
To ensure they last as long as possible (about three weeks), customers are urged to avoid cleaning their eyes, so that the glue sets.
However, this lack of hygiene is believed to be the reason why scores of women have been flocking to Orlando’s Eye Institute in Florida with burning, crusting eyelids teeming with hordes of microscopic mites.
Chillingly, the mites are fairly common on the human body, feeding off the oils on lashes and eyebrows without us noticing.
But in cases of extremely poor hygiene, those oils become oversaturated, the mites overpopulate, and the person hosting them suffers a painful burning reaction that takes months to recover from.
Horrific: This is the eye of one of the patients at Orlando Eye Institute, teeming with mites
Reaction: One of the institute’s patients, Ashley, suffered painful swollen eyes and crusting
‘It is pretty painful,’ the institute’s manager told Daily Mail Online.
‘The eyelids get swollen and that’s when the crusting starts. You don’t know what’s happening, you think you’re having an allergic reaction to the glue.’
The recent spike began a few weeks ago, around the time of spring break in Orlando, where beauty salons are booming.
The institute is not clear on what is driving it – some women refuse to say where they got theirs done, and a few have named different salons.
But Dr Keshini Parbhu, leading ophthamologist in the institute’s dry eye center, told Channel 9 News it is likely down to salons not adequately cleaning their tools.
After clients have had their first set on, it is common to simply come in for ‘top-ups’ every couple of weeks. We lose about five lashes a day, so in most cases clients only have 40 percent of their extensions left by that point. Within five weeks, they will most likely have disappeared completely.
For top-ups, salons typically add some more individual lashes to the existing set. But, again, hygiene is an issue, since cleaning the area could affect the glue’s strength.
According to Dr Parbhu, patients who start to feel severe itching should not rip the eyelashes off themselves – getting them removed takes about 10 minutes and $25.
Each lash needs to be cleaned with a specific tool. For the next couple of months, they have to apply an aftercare ointment, derived from tea tree, which costs $300 a bottle
The microscopic mites (pictured) are fairly common on the human body, feeding off the oils on lashes and eyebrows without us noticing. But in cases of extremely poor hygiene, those oils become oversaturated, the mites overpopulate
Dr Keshini Parbhu, leading ophthamologist in the institute’s dry eye center, told Channel 9 News the outbreak is likely down to salons not adequately cleaning their tools
If that itching turns out to be mites, though, the treatment to blitz them is just as arduous as the procedure to get the lashes applied: each lash needs to be cleaned with a specific tool. For the next couple of months, they have to apply an aftercare ointment, derived from tea tree, which costs $300 a bottle.
Dr Parbhu insists people should not stop getting eyelash extensions if they love getting them, but there are some things they can do to lower their risk of a mite infection.
Most important, she says, is cleaning the bed sheets and pillow cases, to avoid any old dust or bacteria touching the eye area.
It is also yet another incentive to take eye makeup off before going to bed.