This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

The price of beauty could be your eyesight, a new study warns. Everyday beauty products send thousands of people to the ER with eye injuries every year, researchers reported at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO).

These included heated styling tools, facial spray, eyelash glue, hair products, nail cosmetics and eye makeup, researchers said.

"Cosmetic products may seem relatively low risk because they are everyday household items, but when they contact the eye, particularly chemicals or very hot devices, they can cause significant injury," lead researcher Aatif Syed, a medical student at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said in a news release.

For the new study, researchers analyzed data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, revealing that nearly 42,500 people landed in U.S. emergency departments with eye injuries from cosmetic and personal care products between 2005 and 2024.

Women and girls accounted for four out of five (82%) of these eye injuries, the study found.

And while the average age of patients was 24, children 4 and younger made up nearly a quarter of the injury cases, researchers said.

Patterns of injury differed depending on how old the patient was, researchers found.

Chemical burns represented 46% of the injuries to the eyes of patients younger than 18, compared to less than 1% of adults, the study found.

Of all chemical burns treated, 83% were linked to a child getting hold of a cosmetic product, researchers said.

Source link