You Could Be Sharing More Than Just Make Up!
Photo by Glow Repose on Unsplash
When you were a kid, your parents always told you to share. And if you have a younger sibling, you are not new to sharing everything – from clothing to food. But what about sharing your makeup?
Pink Eye
Beauty and skin care expert Laurie Polis, MD, says, “When it comes to bad make up sharing habits, the eyes rank as the most dangerous. The most common viral infection of the eye is pinkeye which is extremely contagious. People don’t always know they’re brewing it.”
Herpes
Women do it all the time – take a bathroom break and ask a friend to borrow some lipstick. But Polis also explains that sharing lip stick or lip gloss “could be risky if your friend has herpes labialis, an infection caused by contagious herpes simplex virus. That’s the virus that causes small painful blisters known as cold sores or fever blisters on the mouth. Your friend may be “shedding the virus’ and not realize she’s getting a cold sore.”
Staph Infections
In a recent news story first reported in the Daily Mail, a 27-year old woman from Australia is now confined to a wheel chair after borrowing
a makeup brush from a friend. Jo Gilchrist caught a staph infection that attacked her spine when all she wanted to do was cover up a blemish. Dermatologist Dr. Seth Forman sees staph infections on a regular basis and reports that they are highly contagious. He states, “You can get it from a door handle at a mall, from a menu at a restaurant or from picking your children up at school. It is all over. It usually starts with a cut that gets infected by bacteria. A lot of men get it on their chest, some woman get it on their legs. It happens where people have a high density of hair follicles.”
Forman warns others to always wash your hands to lower the chances of spreading infection and to never share razors, towels or nail clippers. Laurie Polis advises that if you can’t avoid sharing makeup, “Wipe off the top layer of the product after a friend uses it or when you’re at a makeup counter in a store. If it’s a liner pencil, sharpen it. If it’s a lipstick or eyeshadow, swipe the tip or compact with a tissue.”
Protect yourself from infection – stop sharing your makeup. It is better (and safer) to go without lipstick for a few hours than to introduce an infection into your body.
Source: WebMD.com, abc15.com and Dailymail.co.uk
