Bride tried eyelash extensions to feel ‘like a princess’ for her wedding. She ended up in the ER with an allergic reaction instead

According to Fox News, a 26-year-old bride-to-be who wanted to try a new look for her wedding day had a severe allergic reaction to eyelash extensions, leaving her eyes red, swollen, and sore just hours after the treatment.

Polly Bibby, an illustrator from Cambridgeshire in the United Kingdom, told Kennedy News & Media, cited by Fox News, that she decided to get classic eyelash extensions ahead of her wedding. She said she usually wears minimal makeup, but wanted to try something different for the occasion.

Bibby said she had a patch test done before the procedure and had no reaction, so she went ahead with the full treatment in early July, which cost her about $88, Kennedy.

Bride said her eyes became swollen and stuck together with discharge

At first, Bibby said she was happy with how the lashes looked. But a few hours after the appointment, she said her eyes became watery and sore, which she initially brushed off as hay fever symptoms. Wedding day mishaps aren’t limited to beauty treatments gone wrong; one bride dealt with an outdoor wedding bug problem after ants covered her dress.

By that evening, she said her symptoms had gotten worse. She said her eyes started stinging and sticking together because of a yellow discharge. She called an urgent care medical line and was told to go to the nearest hospital emergency room.

Bibby said a nurse in the eye unit at Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Cambridge confirmed that Bibby had suffered an allergic reaction to the eyelash extensions. She was given antibiotics and antihistamines and was told to wait three days for the swelling to go down before having the false lashes removed.

Bibby described her appearance during the reaction by comparing herself to a character from a movie. “The only way I can describe [how I looked] is the man from ‘The Goonies’ with the big puffy eyes called Sloth. I just didn’t look like myself. I looked like a different person,” she told Kennedy News & Media.

She said her eyes were “burning,” and that “it got to the point where I was losing my vision and I couldn’t see at all.” She also described the discharge in her eyes as “a sticky yellow discharge pretty similar to when babies have conjunctivitis.”

Bibby said the medical staff who treated her were “quite taken back and shocked by it.” When the false lashes were removed a few days later, she said it felt like “acid was being poured onto her face,” and described herself as “screaming, crying and tensing up” during the process.

Rebecca J. Taylor, a board-certified ophthalmologist in Nashville, said in a statement on the American Academy of Ophthalmology website that eyelash extensions should be applied by an experienced aesthetician in a clean setting, using chemicals that are safe for the skin. 

She said the procedure carries risks, including trauma to or infection of the eyelid or cornea, allergic reactions to the glue, and permanent or temporary loss of eyelashes. Taylor added that infection can also happen because of poor hygiene at the salon or damage to the eye during the procedure.

Bibby said she was concerned her eyes would still be red by the time she married her fiancé, 29-year-old Benjamin May. “I just didn’t look like myself,” she said. 

She explained that she wanted to try the lashes as a trial run before the wedding since she had never had the treatment done before. “Getting married is the biggest day of your life, so I just wanted to test out different makeup and actually feel like a princess for the day,” she told Kennedy News & Media.

Bibby said that at the time of the interview, her eyes were still red, scabby, and irritated, with some blurry vision remaining. She said she had not expected something like this to happen to her. 

“When people joke around and say things [can] go wrong [on your wedding day] – I didn’t realize it would happen to me,” she said. Other brides have also faced last-minute wedding surprises, including one who found unexpected stains on her dress just before her big day.

Looking ahead to her wedding, Bibby said she plans to skip the extensions. “I won’t be getting eyelash extensions for the big day. Going through that pain was not worth it. If I knew in hindsight, I’d just use mascara,” she told Kennedy News & Media. She added that she hoped others could learn from her experience, saying, “I’d hate for anyone else to go through this.”