Unwashed Mascara Causes Lumps Under Eyelids, Woman Nearly Loses Eyesight

A woman nearly lost her eyesight due to her habit of not washing off her mascara. According to reports Monday, mascara accumulated in the woman's eyes for more than two decades causing irritation.

Theresa Lynch, 50, of Sydney, wants to warn makeup users of the side effects of not washing off mascara. While speaking with Daily Mail, Lynch said she felt discomfort on the underside of her eyelids and her eyes were discharging.

“I had fallen into a bad habit of wearing a lot of makeup and not washing it off. I should never have let it get this far,” Lynch told the Daily Mail.

Doctors told the mother of two she was suffering from conjunctival concretions, also known as small calcified bumps or lesions.

Lynch's doctor Dana Robaei published a study in the American Academy of Ophthalmology confirming Lynch's condition. According to Robaei, Lynch had developed “chronic foreign body sensation in both eyes,” the case notes.

"Eversion of the upper lids revealed multiple darkly pigmented subconjunctival concretions, some eroding through the conjunctival surface. This was associated with a patchy follicular conjunctivitis and punctate corneal erosions. Histopathological examination of a conjunctival biopsy revealed a chronic inflammatory infiltrate with pigmented macrophages, in keeping with foreign body deposition," the study read.

The lumps in Lynch's eyes were removed but she has permanent scars on her eyelids.

​"[The lumps] were embedded so deep that particles were building up on top of each other," she told the Mail. "I was so uncomfortable. My eyelids were swollen and heavy because I left it for so long."

Her doctor told Daily Mail: “Every time Theresa was blinking these bumps were rubbing on the surface of the eye and they pose a risk to her vision... If the scratch on the surface of the eye got infected, there is a risk this could be a potentially blinding but that would be rare.”

Lynch warned others it's "so important to properly take your makeup off every single night. You can't miss a single day."