Harvard doctor pinpoints make-up favourite that can make you go BLIND: 'Do not use'
Fake eyelashes could have devastating long-term health consequences—including blindness—a leading doctor has warned.
The adhesive used to apply them often contains a dangerous chemical, according to Dr Saurabh Sethi, a US-based doctor trained at Harvard University.
In a video posted to Instagram, which has racked up more than 120,000 views and over 1,000 likes, Dr Sethi explains the potential risks.
'Fake eyelashes are becoming increasingly popular, but the adhesive glue often contains formaldehyde, which can cause allergic reactions, thinning and permanent loss of natural eyelashes,' he says.
'In rare cases, it can even lead to blindness. To minimise this risk, avoid fake eyelashes or use formaldehyde-free adhesives.'
Experts say formaldehyde is added to lash glue to improve shelf life and stickiness—though the same chemical is more commonly used to preserve dead bodies.
At high concentrations, it can disrupt cellular function and trigger shortness of breath, headaches and skin irritation.
An American study from 2022 tested 37 lash glues and found that 75 per cent of the 20 professional products released formaldehyde, while four of the 17 consumer glues also contained the chemical.
Eyelash extensions are tiny, hair-like fibers that estheticians place under, between or on top of your natural lash line using glue to create long, luscious lashes
Some lash glues containing formaldehyde failed to list it among their ingredients.
The chemical can trigger a range of reactions when it comes into contact with the eye.
In a 2012 study by Japanese researchers involving 100 women who experienced adverse effects from fake eyelashes, 40 per cent were found to have had an allergic reaction to the glue.
The most common condition reported was keratoconjunctivitis—an inflammatory eye disorder affecting both the cornea and the conjunctiva.
The same study also found that some women developed blepharitis—an inflammation of the eyelids.
The eyelid margins contain hair follicles where lashes grow, along with two types of glands that produce antimicrobial substances to prevent bacterial buildup around the eyes.
Despite health warnings, the eyelash extension industry is booming.
Valued at $1.4 billion in 2020, it is projected to grow to $2.3 billion by 2028, according to Verified Market Research.
Eyelash extensions are tiny, hair-like fibres—typically made from synthetic materials, silk or mink—applied to the lash line using glue to create fuller, longer lashes.
The procedure is purely cosmetic and typically carried out by trained estheticians.
Interestingly, scientists have recently uncovered the biological function of eyelashes.
A 2023 study by researchers in China found that lashes play a crucial role in protecting the eyes—from diverting sweat and water, to reducing airflow over the eye's surface, keeping it lubricated and shielding it from airborne particles by triggering blinking.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
What is ‘gas station heroin' and why are health experts sounding the alarm over it?
'Gas station heroin' is rising in popularity and health officials are sounding the alarms of its potential consequences. The items are the brightly colored little bottles often sold at gas stations, convenience stores and smoke shops. They are usually marketed as energy shots or cognitive supplements but actually contain tianeptine, an unapproved drug that can be addictive and carries risks of serious side effects. U.S. poison control centers have reported a steady rise in calls linked to the drug for more than a decade. And last month the Food and Drug Administration sent a warning to health professionals about 'the magnitude of the underlying danger or these products.' Here's what to know about gas station heroin: How are these products sold in the U.S.? Tianeptine is approved in a number foreign countries as an antidepressant, usually as a low-dose pill taken three times a day. But it has never been approved by the FDA for any medical condition in the U.S. Additionally, the drug cannot legally be added to foods and beverages or sold as a dietary supplement — something the FDA has repeatedly warned U.S. companies about. Still, under-the-radar firms sell tianeptine in various formulas, often with brand names like Zaza, Tianaa, Pegasus and TD Red. Although that is technically illegal, the FDA does not preapprove ingredients added to supplements and beverages. 'It's kind of this grey area of consumer products, or supplements, where the contents are not regulated or tested the way they would be with a medication,' said Dr. Diane Calello of the New Jersey Poison Information and Education System. Last year, Calello and her colleagues published a study documenting a cluster of emergency calls in New Jersey tied to a flavored elixir called Neptune's Fix. People experienced distress, rapid heartbeat, low blood pressure and seizures after drinking it. More than a dozen of the 20 patients had to be admitted for intensive care. Why use these products? Many tianeptine products claim— without evidence or FDA approval— to help users treat medical conditions, including addiction, pain and depression. In 2018, the FDA issued a warning letter to the maker of a product called Tianna, which claimed to provide 'an unparalleled solution to cravings for opiates.' While tianeptine is not an opioid, the drug binds to some of the same receptors in the brain, which can temporarily produce effects akin to oxycodone and other opioids. Tianeptine also carries some of the same physiological risks of opioids, including the potential to dangerously depress breathing. 'That's what tends to get people into trouble,' said Dr. Hannah Hays of Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. 'They use it for opioid-like effects or to self-treat opioid withdrawal and that can lead to slow breathing and problems like that." People dealing with opioid addiction, pain, depression, anxiety and other conditions should see a health professional to get a prescription for FDA-approved treatments, Hays said. Is tianeptine use going up? Experts aren't sure but national figures show a big rise in emergency calls involving the drug. Calls to poison control centers increased 525% between 2018 and 2023, according to a data analysis published earlier this year. In about 40% of cases, the person had to seek medical care, with more than half of them needing critical care. One explanation for the rise in calls is simply that more Americans are using the products. But experts also say that the products are triggering more emergencies as they become more potent and dangerous. And the researchers in New Jersey who analyzed Neptune's Fix found that the liquid also contained synthetic cannabis and other drugs. 'You never quite know what's in that bottle," Calello said. 'It's important for people to know that even if they have used a product before, they could get a bottle that contains something very different from what they're looking for.' Are there policies that could reduce tianeptine use? Tianeptine is not included in the federal Controlled Substances Act, which bans or restricts drugs that have no medical use or have a high potential for abuse, such as heroin, LSD and PCP. But about a dozen states have passed laws prohibiting or restricting tianeptine, including Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Tennessee. In some cases, those laws have led to more cases of withdrawal among users of tianeptine, which can be chemically addictive. But state data also shows some success in reducing harm tied to the drug. Until recently, Alabama had the highest rate of tianeptine-related calls in the southern U.S., which increased more than 1,400% between 2018 to 2021. But after the state restricted tianeptine in 2021 calls began modestly decreasing while calls across other southern states continued to climb.
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
People are just realizing what it means if you keep waking up at the same time in the middle of the night
Waking up at the same time each night can send you into a panic and leave you wondering why but the real reason is more surprising than just a racing mind. A good night's sleep is crucial for daily life, yet waking up suddenly during the night or early morning - typically 3 to 4am - is surprisingly common, with one US study finding that 35.5 percent of people reported jolting awake more than three times a week, as reported by Many restless sleepers believe their nightly wake-ups are caused by an overactive mind - reliving embarrassing memories from the past or simply overthinking - and often aren't sure whether they should seek help. 'As a cognitive therapist, I sometimes joke that the only good thing about 3am waking is that it gives us all a vivid example of catastrophizing,' Greg Murray, a sleep expert, wrote in an article published by The Conversation. 'Waking and worrying at 3am is very understandable and very human,' he added. However, the reason behind this phenomenon isn't rooted in anxiety or the stress that often creeps in during the quiet, dark hours of the night. Instead, the collective experience of a 3am wake-up call is intricately tied to how our bodies function on a day-to-day basis. Murray, the Director of the Centre for Mental Health at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, tied the strange phenomenon to our body's neurobiology and hormonal rhythms. During a normal night's sleep, our neurobiology - the study of our nervous system's structure, function, and development - typically hits a critical turning point between 3am to 4am. Around this time, our core body temperature begins to rise, sleep pressure eases since we've already rested, melatonin - the sleep hormone - has peaked, and cortisol - the stress hormone - starts increasing, gearing the body up to wake and face the day ahead. This experience surprisingly happens without outside signals - like bright light peering through our bedroom windows - as our bodies are built to predict both sunrise and sunset thanks to our natural circadian rhythm. However, rising cortisol levels can play a key part in whether or not you fully wake up during the wee-hours of the night, as it mainly helps regulate your body's response to stress, The Cleveland Clinic explained. This stress hormone plays a massive role in making you feel on high alert and 'triggers the release of glucose (sugar) from your liver', giving your body a quick burst of energy during stressful moments. Simply put, if you're more stressed than usual, your body likely releases more cortisol during the night - leading to those abrupt, middle-of-the-night wake-ups. Although about one in three people report jolting awake in the middle of the night, the truth is we all wake up several times - we're just not usually aware of it until stress comes to play. According to Murray, when sleep is going well, 'we are simply unaware of these awakenings'. But with added stress, there's a good chance those brief wake-up moments turn into fully self-aware moments. Stress can also cause hypervigilance - feeling anxious or on edge about being awake during the night - which often leads to insomnia. External supports are also missing in the depths of night - no social connections or cultural comforts. 'With none of our human skills and capital, we are left alone in the dark with our thoughts,' Murray explained. 'So the mind is partly right when it concludes the problems it's generated are unsolvable - at 3am, most problems literally would be.' Once the sun rises, familiar sounds, smells, and sensations help put things in perspective. Problems that felt overwhelming just hours earlier suddenly seem much smaller, and people often wonder why they couldn't calm themselves down the night before. 'The truth is, our mind isn't really looking for a solution at 3am,' Murray wrote. 'We might think we are problem solving by mentally working over issues at this hour, but this isn't really problem solving; it's problem solving's evil twin - worry,' he added. The revelation stunned people across the internet, many of whom had long believed they were alone in their mysterious, late-night awakenings. 'So true. Reading this at 4am,' one user wrote to Facebook. Another added: 'My 4am issue is finally explained.' 'The Bain of my life,' a third chimed in. 'Interesting read.' 'I don't know about fears and shortcomings, but my brain goes off in all directions when I awake in the middle of the night,' wrote another. Joining into the conversation, another user wrote: 'These might be the answers to my waking most nights.' So, for those who wake up at the same time every night, the big question remains: What do you do about it? 'Buddhism has a strong position on this type of mental activity: the self is a fiction, and that fiction is the source of all distress,' Murray explained. As a helpful tip, Murray recommended practicing Buddhist-informed mindfulness during the day to manage stress - making it easier to use the same technique during those quiet, restless hours at night. If all else fails, traditional cognitive behavioral therapy advice can help - getting out of bed, turning on a dim light and cracking open a book to distract your mind and ease back into sleep. 'One last tip,' Murray wrote. 'It's important to convince yourself (during daylight hours) that you want to avoid catastrophic thinking.'
The Guardian
6 hours ago
- The Guardian
US experts fear all vaccines at risk as Trump officials target mRNA jabs
As top US health officials turn against some mRNA vaccines, experts fear for the country's preparedness for the next pandemic and worry that other vaccines will be targeted next. Donald Trump's administration recently canceled a $766m award to Moderna on the research and development of H5N1 bird flu vaccines, and officials have announced new restrictions and regulations for Covid mRNA vaccines – actions that signal a move away from the breakthrough technology. These changes add to other vaccine-related shakeups at health agencies, including layoffs and resignations of top vaccine officials and the abrupt termination of HIV vaccine research. On Monday, Robert F Kennedy Jr, secretary of health and human services, announced he was disbanding the independent advisory committee on vaccines for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 'I think mRNA vaccines are particularly at risk, although I think all vaccines are at risk,' said Paul Offit, professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. 'I think that this administration will do everything it can to make vaccines less available, less affordable and more feared.' Messenger RNA, or mRNA, vaccines heralded a major breakthrough in battling the Covid pandemic, building on three decades of scientific work and earning a Nobel prize. The Covid vaccines, some of which were co-developed by US government scientists, were taken by millions of people around the globe, and international scientists and officials closely monitored their side effects and effectiveness. mRNA vaccines and therapeutics show promise for treating or preventing certain cancers, rare conditions and infectious diseases – including, potentially, the next pandemic, experts said. 'We don't know what the next pandemic virus is going to be,' said Jennifer Nuzzo, professor of epidemiology and director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health. With mRNA, she said, 'you can pivot faster when you find a new virus to make a vaccine that's tailored to that virus'. The mRNA vaccines also don't need to be incubated in eggs, which is time-consuming and potentially difficult if there are egg shortages from bird flu outbreaks. In 2009, the US didn't have enough vaccines to battle the swine flu pandemic, Nuzzo said. 'It seems like we're determined to repeat those mistakes.' Despite their promise, mRNA vaccines have been plagued by misinformation. Some skeptics believe the vaccines affect fertility or cause birth defects, though research shows no link – and, in fact, studies show that the vaccines reduce these risks by preventing infections with Covid, which can be especially dangerous to pregnant people and newborns. Because mRNA sounds similar to DNA, some people mistakenly think it interferes with their genes. Conspiracy theorists also claim the vaccine causes people to die suddenly, or that the shots implant microchips or impart 5G connectivity. Meghan McCain recently endorsed, in a now-deleted social media post, an unregulated supplement company's 'spike detox' for those who 'regret' getting vaccinated. Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, called the mRNA Covid shots the 'deadliest vaccine ever made,' incorrectly claiming the vaccines cause more illnesses and deaths than they prevent. Kennedy rose to greater prominence through the pandemic as previously fringe conspiracies about vaccines began dominating more mainstream narratives. 'Anti-vaccine sentiment goes back to the first days of vaccines in the 1700 and 1800s,' said John Moore, professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College. 'It's been a perpetual theme in society for 200-plus years, but it has been turbocharged by the Covid pandemic.' Some states are now considering laws against mRNA vaccines, and US health officials have taken several steps to limit Covid shots in recent weeks. Officials with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced plans to limit boosters to older people and those with certain health conditions, as well as plans to conduct placebo-controlled clinical trials again. The CDC removed the vaccination recommendation for pregnant people and softened the recommendation for children's shots. About 165,000 Americans were hospitalized and 40,000 died in the previous year because of Covid, the CDC said at an April meeting. About 6,700 of those hospitalizations were among children, especially young children, and 152 children died from Covid in that time, the data showed. About 5% of children under five are vaccinated against Covid – rates much lower than other age groups. 'That's why, if you look at the numbers of hospitalizations and deaths for children now, especially young children less than four years old, it's really not much different than the beginning of this pandemic,' Offit said. There's also 'extensive evidence' for benefits to pregnant people and their babies, he said. While the FDA recently approved Moderna's 'next generation' Covid vaccine, which was even more effective that their current shot in clinical trials, the agency limited the new shot only for older adults and for people aged 12 to 64 with health conditions putting them at higher risk. The FDA also announced new requirements for mRNA Covid vaccine makers to add additional warnings about the risks of myocarditis, or heart inflammation, based on data the FDA has not made public. During the Biden administration, Moderna received two awards totaling $766m to develop potential bird flu vaccines. Despite the changeover in administrations, Moderna's work continued as normal – until February, when health officials said in an article that the funding was being reviewed. Moderna hadn't received any notification of this review, which recently culminated in having the funding cancelled. Halting the H5N1 vaccine research, which was in phase 3 trials, leaves the US vulnerable in a potential flu pandemic, Nuzzo said. It also means other countries could build upon US investments to procure the vaccines for themselves. mRNA has shown promise in treating pancreatic cancer and other cancers, as well as rare conditions and hard-to-treat infectious diseases. Moderna, for instance, is working on vaccines for melanoma, lung cancer, norovirus, flu, and CMV, or cytomegalovirus, a fairly common infection that can cause lasting health problems for infants. The company also has an RSV vaccine, currently approved for older adults, that could be expanded for other age groups. But those efforts could be hampered by the administration's moves against mRNA and terminations of vaccine scientists and independent advisors who offer vaccine recommendations. 'We don't want to see kids kicked out of school because a 12-year-old girl is not getting her fifth Covid booster shot,' Marty Makary, head of the FDA, said in a recent interview. Yet no states require Covid vaccination for school attendance. Pushing back against mandates is a common tactic from anti-vaccine activists working to dismantle all vaccine mandates, Offit said. In addition to claiming the Covid vaccines are deadly, Kennedy has 'also said no vaccine is beneficial', he said. Kennedy recently unveiled a sweeping and controversial $50m research project on autism, including an autism research database. If that effort somehow links autism to vaccines – despite decades of studies showing no connection – it could open lawmakers up to lawsuits, Offit said. 'He could manipulate the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program,' Offit said. If Kennedy adds autism to the compensable list of injuries, 'it would break the program'. That would mean the people who experience very rare severe side effects from vaccines may then face challenges getting compensated. And it could prompt vaccine makers to stop producing routine childhood immunizations because of legal liability. 'It's a fragile market,' Offit said. Kennedy 'is an anti-vaccine activist, science denialist and conspiracy theorist', he continued. 'I think that he will continue this onslaught against vaccines.'
