A PLASTIC surgeon is warning against using popular eyelash serums that could lead to some seriously scary health issues.
The cosmetic prof said one brand’s beauty product left her with a bulging eye that required going under the knife twice to fix.
Dr. Umbareen Mahmood, a board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon based in New York City, recounted her experience in a viral video on TikTok.
She said she had been using a particular lash serum to achieve the glamorous look of fuller lashes.
The product worked for her initially, even garnering her compliments from strangers on the street.
However, it was during a photo op that Dr. Mahmood noticed something seriously wrong with her appearance.
“When I saw the photos afterward I was like, ‘What the hell happened to my eyes?'”
THE LASH SERUM
Dr. Mahmood said that she had been using Rodan + Fields Lash Serum leading up to the eye issue.
“One of my eyes was enormous and bulging out,” she said.
After lengthy sleuthing and going to multiple doctors to get to the bottom of the issue, she learned that the lash serum had been the culprit.
The issue lies in prostaglandin, she said, an ingredient found in many lash growth products on the market.
Prostaglandin can also weaken the muscles around the eye as well as diminish the fatty tissues — which can also cause an aged appearance.
Dr. Mahmood experienced this, causing her other eye to compensate by bulging out.
“In my case, [prostaglandin analogs] caused muscle thinning of the muscle that holds the eyelid up,” she said.
She ended up needing two surgeries to correct the problem.
SETTLING SUITS
Dr. Mahmood isn’t the only customer to complain about issues with the Rodan + Fields Lash Boost.
Three class-action lawsuits were filed against the company in 2018.
Among the customers’ claims was that Rodan + Fields didn’t disclose potential risks of the prostaglandin analog found in the lash serum.
Rodan + Fields denied the allegations but settled for $38 million.
“The health, safety, and satisfaction of our valued customers remains our top priorit[y], and we are proud of, and stand by, Lash Boost, a much-loved, industry-recognized innovation that has been used by millions of customers for the last five-plus years,” they said in a 2022 statement.
GROWING LASHES SAFELY
Dr. Mahmood did come with a safer solution for longer lashes — castor oil.
“Now, I’m not saying run out to Whole Foods, buy castor oil, and put it all over your eyelashes,” she said.
“But I’m just saying, if you’re going to use eyelash serum please, please, please be very careful.”
She also provided more advice for lash serums.
“This video was intended to share my personal experience with a beauty product, an eyelash growth serum,” she told The U.S. Sun.
I received thousands of questions about which lash serum is safe and the short answer is, there isn’t a ‘perfect’ product.
Dr. Umbareen Mahmood
“Many medications for glaucoma and other ocular diseases contain prostaglandins.
“But the risk-benefit ratio of using these vision-preserving medications is obviously dramatically different than the risk-benefit ration for a cosmetic product to lengthen lashes.
“Additionally, while to my knowledge there are no scientific studies definitively confirming the ability of castor oil to grow lashes, there are studies demonstrating its effectiveness in conditioning lashes and preventing breakage/loss.
“I received thousands of questions about which lash serum is safe and the short answer is, there isn’t a ‘perfect’ product.
“There are certainly serums on the market that do not contain prostaglandins, but people can have reactions to anything, including castor oil.
“So it’s impossible to say which ingredient in which product may cause an adverse reaction for any particular individual.”
The U.S. Sun has reached out to Rodan + Fields for comment.
