Vision Expo West is underway in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Pamela E. Theriot, OD, FAAO, sat down with Optometry Times to discuss her presentation with Selina McGee, OD, FAAO, entitled “Makeup and the ocular surface – What you need to know.” The duo discussed current makeup and cosmetic trends, how these affect the ocular surface, and when to intervene with your patients who enjoy these beauty regimens.
Vision Expo West is taking place September 18-21, 2024 at the Venetian Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Video transcript
Jordana Joy:
Hi everyone. I’m here today with Dr Pamela Theriot, clinical director of the dry eye relief center at Lusk Eye Specialists in Louisiana. She’s here to chat about her Vision Expo West presentation, “Makeup and the ocular surface: What you need to know.” The conference ran from September 18 through the 21st in Las Vegas, Nevada. So welcome. It’s a pleasure to have you today.
Pamela E. Theriot, OD, FAAO:
Thanks so much for having me. I’m happy to be here.
Joy:
Of course, awesome. So first, would you be able to give us an overview of the presentation you gave?
Theriot:
Absolutely. So in 2023, the Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society [TFOS] released their lifestyle workshop, and that went over 8 different sections of how our lifestyle is affecting our ocular surface. One of the sections was on cosmetics. So we’re diving deep into that report on cosmetics, [on] how it’s affecting not only our meibomian glands, [but also] our conjunctiva. [We’re discussing] what people are doing with their eyelashes these days; we have eyelash extensions, tinting, perming, curling, all the things, and because these chemicals have such a long time to be around our eyes, [we’ll discuss] how that affects our ocular surface over the long haul.
Joy:
Awesome, great. So what are some of those telltale signs of eye beauty practices that may potentially [be] negatively affecting eye health?
Theriot:
So a couple of them would be tightlining. That’s when we put our eyeliner on the inner rim of our lids, and so that’ll clog the meibomian glands, and long-term damage can come from meibomian gland atrophy, leading to meibomian gland dysfunction. Then we have, of course, eyelash extensions. Everybody’s getting extensions these days, and the main problem with that is going to be the glues. A lot of the glues have formaldehyde releasing components to them, and so that formaldehyde around our eyes can cause redness, allergic reaction, and also death to the meibomian gland cells because that is going to be around the eyes for a long period of time as the glue sits there.
Joy:
Absolutely, so say a patient you know, uses either eye beauty products or cosmetics every day, and they are maybe concerned about what the side effects or the symptoms may be for any eye health issues that are stemming from that. What would be those symptoms? And when should they get to an eye care professional?
Theriot:
Yeah, so I think some common symptoms would be irritation, watering, redness, and swelling. So that may be an allergic reaction, but it might also be signs of meibomian gland dysfunction, blepharitis from not removing their eye makeup properly, and also, you know, an acute allergic reaction to an ingredient in one of the cosmetics, or to those glues that we were just talking about. So if any of those things happen, then they should report to their local eye care professional and have it taken care of.
Joy:
So where might patient education be lacking regarding the best cosmetic practices, and how can optometrists bridge that gap?
Theriot:
So patients are severely lacking eye health education overall, but in general, especially with cosmetics, because they’ve learned through the grapevine from their friends, from their parents. And then, of course, then there’s the ladies at the beauty counters at the department stores, and then there’s the YouTubers. And all of them are out there for a reason, right? Either to give guidance to their family member, to sell a product at the beauty counter, or on YouTube, to, you know, popularize a trend. Those people are not professionals. We’re the professionals. We are the ones in this big, wide world that know the most about eye health.
And it took me a long time to get to this point with my patients, because you never want to offend anyone. You don’t want to tell them that what they’re doing with their makeup is not right or not good. But when I see something in one of my patients, like tight lining, I just, I don’t tolerate it anymore. I just have to say, “Mrs. Jones, I see that you’ve got eyeliner on the inside rim of your eyelid. That is inhibiting the oils from coming out of your lids when you’re blinking. It’s making your eyes dry out. It’s giving you that stinging and burning sensation.”
Bring it back to something that maybe they’re sensing, a symptom that they’re having, and allow them to come to the conclusion themselves that no, my eye doctor said it was bad for me. I need to stop doing this. But when you bring it back to the health of the eye, instead of talking about a trend, I think we can really make a difference in our patient’s long term eye health.
Joy:
Absolutely. So keeping all of that in mind in terms of beauty industry experts or social influencers and gurus, how can optometrists work with those individuals to promote eye health?
Theriot:
Right? So we could reach out to them and advise them. I have not tried to do that personally, but you know, there are new beauty brands that are made by eye care professionals, so some of our colleagues have gone to the forefront, have started making beauty products that are now available for the public to purchase, and that’s what I’ve done in my own clinic, is partnered with these beauty brands that I know and trust their ingredients, because there’s full transparency on what is included in their ingredients, and I know that my patient’s eye health is going to be protected. So I sell those through my office to allow my patients to have the best makeup with their ocular surface in mind.
Joy:
Absolutely. Was there anything else on the topic or your presentation that you wanted to chat about?
Theriot:
It was so much fun to have all of you there. So glad you could make it, and I loved having all the questions. So let’s do it again next year! We’ll see you at Vision Expo.
Joy:
We will definitely see you there. Oh well, thank you very much. It’s been a pleasure to chat with you today.
Theriot:
You too. Thank you.