Does Tightlining With Eyeliner Damage Your Eyes?

You undergo the same makeup routine — foundation, concealer, contour, blush, and lastly eyeshadow. But, now you're noticing something is wrong with your eyesight. The answer can be from tightlining your eyes with eyeliner, one of the many eyeliner mistakes out there to make. Per the Daily Mail, tightlining — putting eyeliner or eyeshadow on your waterline — can damage your eyesight. Yes, you read that right. Your vision is being compromised every time you line your waterline with an eye pencil. 

"There has even been a small study to set the record straight about the dangers of what beauticians refer to as "waterlining" or "tightlining" which is applying eyeliner inside your lower lash line," Luke Arundel, an optometrist, told the Daily Mail. "The results showed the glitter particles of the pencil eyeliner migrated more readily and contaminated the tear film when applied inside the waterline."

And, for those wearing contact lenses or who have sensitive eyes, the risk of vision damage is even greater, the outlet added. In some scenarios, tightlining will only irritate your eyes or contacts (via Cosmopolitan) and can cause eye infections. Honestly, your eyesight is not worth the risk of participating in this beauty trend.

Okay, so you still want to waterline eyeliner look, but don't want to damage your eyes? Well, per Cosmopolitan, as long as you only occasionally tightline, you should be all set. However, make sure you clean your product before using it on your inner-lids, the outlet added. That way, the risk of bacteria (and infection) is less likely.

And, if you're worried about damaging your eyes with any part of your routine, you should be careful with your eyelash extensions, the Daily Mail added. Same with tightlining, eyelash extensions can give you infections and take off your natural eyelashes. "There has been a steady increase in the number of cases associated with allergic reactions to the glue used to adhere extensions to existing lashes, the loss of natural eyelashes, conjunctivitis, and even corneal damage due to tweezer injury," optometrist Luke Arundel said. So, if you're really into the eyelash extension look, save it only for special occasions.

Lastly (and most of us should know this by now), throw away any expired makeup. Using expired makeup is another way you can seriously damage your eyes, the Daily Mail reported. So, if you've been using the same mascara wand for over eight months, please throw that away!