The eyes have it

  New glasses 
  Originally uploaded by dynamist.

And by 'it' I mean trouble.

These are the new glasses I ordered yesterday. They're Guess, and the very first pair (out of two) that I tried on. You'd think that someone as obsessive as I am about what I put on my face would have put more research and trial into this process, but I'm not a patient girl.

Anyway, I will mostly be wearing my contact lenses, as I have for the last six years or so. But I will have to wear them less often, and am on a strict regime of eye washes and drops, because I seem to have messed up my peepers in various ways. One of the ways has been using products with oils or glycerines around my eyes.

Now, I hate the feel of oily eye makeup removers and things like that, so I have always avoided them. But what I didn't realise is that while seemingly oil-less products like Bioderma Sébium H2O may not sting my eyes, the glycerines they contain do harm the eyes. (I had to read the label to even tell it contained such glycerines, since it appears to be just a very good, mild toning water.)

So now I have to do a torturous eye wash every night before bed, for 30+ seconds on each eye, to flush out the crap that's got onto and around my eyeballs. I also have to use drops throughout the day, and strictly limit my contact lens wearing - absolutely no more than eight hours per day (max, preferably half that) and only six days per week. At least I can still wear them, but I'm pretty unhappy that I've damaged my eyes without even realising it. We only get one pair, you know.

(Big props to my new optician, Dylan Desai at Boots Opticians in Hammersmith. If you're looking for a trustworthy optician who will actually take the time to explain things to you and who cares about your eyes, go to Dylan.)

Comments

[Liz]

How odd - I ordered new glasses yesterday, too! Just reading glasses for now, though; my distance vision is apparently so f*cked that my optician needs to ring one of the professors who taught him to find out what to do about me. He said I am "a very intriguing case". I don't think that's really a good thing in this instance, but every girl likes to hear she's intriguing, right?

So oils are bad for the eyes? How are we supposed to get rid of waterproof mascara? I use sweet almond oil (cold-pressed of course) to take off my eye make-up - is that a big no-no, then?

[Jackie Danicki]

Yes, anything remotely oily - which will include a lot of makeup removal wipes and pads.

[cj]

So what will you use now to remove your eye makeup? Any recommendations would be appreciated-how scary to think of all the people out there using oils and thinking they are on the right track.

[Jackie Danicki]

Some of the time, I've been using Avene eye makeup remover, which is specially recommended for contact lens wearers. (It was out of sheer laziness that I'd sometimes use the Sébium toner post-cleansing.) Ahava Advanced Eye Makeup Remover is looking pretty good to me, too.

[Christina]

Do you know anything about The Body Shop's Camomile Gentle Eye Make-Up Remover? I've been using it for years and love it. It's one of the few non-oily ones that I've found that is also highly effective at removing my eye makeup.

[Henna]

Could you tell us exactly what happened? I think that your story would be beneficial for a lot of readers since we all use make-up and then something to take it off with.

[michel]

So it's either remove the waterproof mascara with a substance that ever so slowly compromises your vision, or wear mascara that's not waterproof and burn the cornea off your eyeballs every time you shower? I've been going with the latter for years. The immediate damage (and pain) assures me that I'm suffering for beauty's sake.

[TSS]

Oils are bad for the eyes? So what are we supposed to do about dry skin in the eye area? Did they give you any recs?

[Franziska]

I use Plenitude Age Perfect Smoothing Cleansing Wipes from L'oreal but I have to check what they actually contain. They are really good when it comes to taking any eye make-up off.

[Jackie Danicki]

Christina: I don't know about that particular Body Shop eye makeup remover, but I used one years ago that was VERY greasy and unpleasant. Can't remember the name of it, but it doesn't sound like the one you use.

Henna: I am going to talk to my optician in more depth about this when I go back on the 15th to see him, and write a more complete post at that time. I want to get more details about what to avoid and how it all works in general - not just the specifics of my case.

[Liz]

That's good, I would definitely like to know the science behind it.

[barbara gerbasi]

What an eyeopener. (no pun intended) I use either Ponds cold cream or when it's at hand, baby oil to remove my eye makeup. Truthfully I've been too cheap to spring for eyemakeup remover and didn't think it was a necessary product to accompany my already overflowing supply of beauty products. Guess I should reconsider. Please keep us updated.
Cheers, Barb
Barbs-beauty-tips-for-babes-over-60.blogspot.com/

[Mark Clifton]

I had my wife read your post and she was floored by it. She has used Noxzema in the past to remove her make up even though she doesn't wear waterproof make up. Normally she uses dove bar soap to remove her make up.

The scary thing is, just this past week she had her annual eye exam for a set of contact lenses, first timer. We will be talking to the optometrist this week to check for any damage to her eyes.

Thanks again for sharing this!