Waitress, 17, feared she would go blind after suffering a severe allergic reaction to eyelash extensions which left her too self-conscious to leave the house
- Hayley Fetzer, 17, from Ohio, felt ‘on top of the world’ after getting lashes done
- However hours after treatment, her eyes were bloodshot and seeping pus
- She was unable to leave the house for weeks as she felt she looked like a zombie
- She has now vowed she will never get her eyelashes done again
A waitress has revealed she feared she would go blind after suffering a severe allergic reaction to eyelash extensions.
Haley Fetzer, 17, from Ashland, Ohio, felt ‘on top of the world’ after getting her lashes done ahead of her high school prom and decided to have them infilled a fortnight later.
However, hours after the beauty treatment they became bloodshot and started secreting ‘goop’ each time she blinked.
The teen’s reaction steadily worsened and her eyes became so swollen she could hardly open them before they sealed shut for four days.
She said she feared ‘going blind’ from the allergic reaction and was terrified to leave the house for weeks, adding: ‘I felt that I looked like a scary zombie and if I went out I’d scare little kids.’
Haley Fetzer, 17, from Ashland, Ohio, has revealed she feared she would go blind after suffering a severe allergic reaction to eyelash extensions that left her ‘looking like a zombie’
The extreme reaction occurred within days of her getting the eyelash extensions and lasted for weeks
Haley had her lashes done four days before her prom and because her eyes became ‘very pink’ she bought whitening eye drops for that evening.
A few days later they were fine and because she lives in the countryside, she thought maybe she’d had a reaction to pollen.
Believing it to be hayfever, she had them infilled again a fortnight later with horrendous results.
Haley said: ‘Within two hours my eyes were bloodshot red. I was at a college meeting with my mum and she looked at me and was like ‘your eyes are really red, are you ok?’
The 17-year-old got her new eyelashes ahead of her prom and said she felt ‘over the moon’ with the look
After having her lashes filled with extensions before prom, she decided to have them infilled a fortnight later
‘At that time my eyes felt very heavy.
‘It looked like there was blood pooling in my eyes and every time I blinked goop was coming out of them.
‘As the night went on, my eyes were so watery that the lashes were already coming off.’
Haley said she contacted her lash technician who reassured her that they should heal and suggested she see how everything panned out the following day.
Haley said: ‘The next morning I woke up and couldn’t even physically open my eyes, not even with my fingers, nothing. It felt like a terrible case of pink eye.
The 17-year-old, who works as a waitress, felt her eyes became ‘very pink’ so she bought whitening eye drops for that evening
‘Usually whenever you have pink eye, you can put a cold wash cloth on them. I tried that and it didn’t work, I tried a warm one and it also didn’t work.
‘I had to blindly walk myself into the bathroom and put my eyes under running warm water and eventually I could peel them open.
‘But there was so much goop. It was like a very thick mucus. When it’s on every single lash, it’s almost impossible to get it off.’
Little ‘broken blood vessels’ spread throughout the bottom of her eyes, leaving her fearing she’d go blind if they reached her pupils.
However after the infill of lashes, Haley woke up and said she ‘physically couldn’t open’ her eyes (pictured, the reaction)
After initially feeling happy with the treatment (left), Haley suffered an extreme allergic reaction which left her fearing she would go blind (right)
Photos and footage captured by Haley reveal the bottom of her eyes bloodshot before they swelled up and oozed a sticky orange substance that sealed her eyes shut.
Haley said: ‘It was a complete disaster. When it first started it looked like little broken blood vessels all pooled in the bottom of my eye.
‘My first reaction was, “Oh my gosh they’re getting worse, it’s going to go to my pupil and I’m going to go blind”‘.
‘Even when I had my glasses on, I didn’t want to go out in public.
‘It was embarrassing, I had to call off work. At the time I worked in a smoothie shop and I was like, “No one’s going to want a smoothie from me”. I looked scary.
Photos and footage captured by Haley reveal the bottom of her eyes bloodshot before they swelled up and oozed a sticky orange substance that sealed her eyes shut (pictured)
Haley said: ‘I could open my eyes a little bit once the dried mucus was off but my vision was so blurry I could hardly see.
‘I started getting very severe headaches and felt a shocking sensation in one of my eyes, it felt like a little zap at the bottom of it.’
Haley had her lashes removed the following day, a painful process that burned so badly she likened it to ‘getting bitten by a million ants’.
She said: ‘I went to my lash tech and she removed them and used an oil type stuff to break down the glue.
Meanwhile she began getting severe headaches and felt a shocking sensation in one of her eyes (pictured, during the reaction)
‘It burned so badly every time she’d take a lash off. It was like I was getting bitten by a million ants.
‘After she got the lashes off, she still had to go through and pick off the rest of the dried mucus that was right on my water line because you can’t get to it when the lashes are on there.’
After visiting her GP, the smoothie shop supervisor was given a five-week course of eye drops, but while waiting for the medication to kick in Haley was too embarrassed to leave home due to her ‘scary’ appearance.
The beauty lover was prescribed lubricating eye drops from a doctor and also took antihistamines, and within three to four days the mucus started clearing up.
Haley had her lashes removed the following day, a painful process that burned so badly she likened it to ‘getting bitten by a million ants’ (pictured, after the lashes were removed)
Once her lashes were removed, the redness reduced with her eyes eventually returning to their normal color weeks later.
Haley said: ‘I was housebound for five weeks. I feared going out in public until the whole reaction was done.
‘I go the gym, hang out with friends and I’m hardly ever home and it was really different for me to have to stay home all because of something that happened to my eyes.
‘It probably took the full five weeks before my eyes were completely white again and for me to be motivated to go the gym and out in public.
Once her lashes were removed, the redness reduced with her eyes eventually returning to their normal color weeks later (pictured left and right)
‘Another hard transition for me was, you go from having these pretty lashes to when you get them taken off, you can’t wear any mascara.
‘So I felt almost naked, the only make-up I’d usually wear was mascara. If I didn’t have anything on my lashes at all, I didn’t feel pretty, just bare and naked.
‘It was a terrible feeling and I knew I couldn’t do anything about it and had to wait it out, and that’s what was so hard.’
After the ‘disaster’, Haley has vowed to never have the beauty treatment again.
She is now urging others to be aware of severe allergic reactions to lash glue in a bid to stop others going through the same ordeal.
After the ‘disaster’, Haley has vowed to never have the beauty treatment again and is urging others to be aware of severe allergic reactions to lash glue
Haley believes she had a reaction to the glue and urges anyone who has lash extensions to do their research on the types that are used before getting them done.
Haley said: ‘I was never aware in a million years that that would happen.
‘I’ve seen allergic reactions where people’s eyes are pink for a few days, but it was to the point where my eyes were swollen shut.
‘I wanted to put the word out there for other people.
‘I got them done thinking it would be a good idea and wasn’t aware of any of the severe reactions or consequences that can happen afterwards.’
Haley explained that she will never get eyelash extensions again – but she understands everyone makes different choices about their beauty regime
Meanwhile she advised others be ‘aware’ of the type of reaction that can happen, espiecially if they have sensitive skin
She advised: ‘Just be aware that this can happen and if you have sensitive skin, it’s probably not the best idea.
‘Now after having that entire reaction I will never wear false lashes or get extensions.
‘But I really think that each to their own – everyone’s beautiful in their own ways and you don’t need lashes to feel confident.
‘After having that whole experience, it’s the worst feeling not being able to leave your own house because you’re embarrassed.’
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