A teenager has said she was left looking like a comic book villain after claiming a makeup remover burnt her eye.
Jade Inglis, 19, said she was left with an eye like Batman's Poison Ivy after using a Garnier cleansing product. She said he feared she was going to lose her sight. Jade says she removed her eye make-up with the micellar oil-infused cleansing water - and noticed nothing untoward before going to sleep. But the following morning the student says she was forced to peel open her right eyelid as it was ‘glued’ shut with a sticky discharge. Jade called 111 as there were no GPs open on a Saturday and was told to go to A&E - where she says hospital staff washed her eye out with a solution used on acid attack victims. After using an orange dye to assess the damage, doctors discovered Jade had a chemical burn on her eyeball believed to be caused by the £6.99 micellar water. This showed up under the lens as a glowing green mark. The dye left the abrasion on her eye looking like it belonged to the beautiful-but-deadly eco-terrorist Poison Ivy from the DC comic franchise - played by Uma Thurman in the 1997 hit film. Marine biology student Jade has shared the painful-looking images to highlight what she says happened. A Garnier spokesman said that all of their products undergo 'rigorous testing to ensure it is safe to use, even on sensitive skin'.
Jade, from Cambridge, said: “It felt like sunburn in my eye, the pain was excruciating.“When my eye turned green from the dye I looked like Poison Ivy from the Batman films, thankfully it faded away after a few hours.“I was terrified that I’d lose my sight when I heard I had a chemical abrasion on my eye - the first thing I was asked was whether it was permanent or not.“They took the PH level of my eye - the level in my right eye was higher than may leave - then they used a solution on my eye that I was told was used on acid attack victims.“I had to lie there for 20 minutes with the tube inside my eye, it was horrific.
“It was held in place with a little sucker that looked like a toilet plunger around my whole eye. It was so uncomfortable, I’ve never felt anything like it before.“They put an orange dye in my eye and then looked at my eye through an optician’s lens to see if there was any permanent damage.“They could see a really big abrasion on my pupil from the chemical burn, that’s the green in the photo, and said it would heal by itself.”Jade was given pain relief and antibiotics and sent home but was forced to make another trip to A&E during a trip to visit her boyfriend in Sheffield two days later when there was no improvement. The self-conscious student made the three-hour train journey to visit 19-year-old student boyfriend Michael Campbell while wearing glasses to hide her puffy, weeping eye. Jade said: “My eye was closed all day on Saturday as I was in so much pain and crying constantly.“I’d already booked tickets up to Sheffield to visit my boyfriend on Sunday and I didn’t want to waste my money.“I wore sunglasses the whole journey as I was so self-conscious.”On a Monday morning, Jade went to Northern General Hospital in Sheffield as her eye was still painful and was referred to an eye hospital the next day. There she was re-assessed, given more medication and told it would eventually heal and there should be no lasting damage. Garnier’s micellar oil-infused cleansing water boasts it is for dry and sensitive skin, it ‘cleans and nourishes’ and is suitable for use on face, eyes and lips. The Garnier website blurb reads: “For the first time Garnier Micellar technology is formulated with oils. The micelles (cleansing agents) capture impurities like a magnet and lift away dirt from the skin, whilst the oils instantly dissolve all types of make-up.”Jade said: “I’ve used other Garnier micellar waters before and not had a problem.“I ran out of my normal one and saw that specific oil-infused one in the shop and thought I’d try it.“I religiously take my make-up off before bed so dripped the cleanser onto a cotton pad and wiped it around my face and eyes to get everything off.“I didn’t notice anything unusual when I put the product on my skin - it looked and felt fine.“As soon as I woke up the next day my right eye was glued shut with discharge, I could tell it was something different to just sleep in my eye. I went straight to the bathroom and tried to prise it open and wiped all the discharge away before contacting a friend and then 111.“It must have been that Garnier product because I’ve been using everything else for years.“The pain before the eyedrops were excruciating, I would be up all night crying with it. The doctors can’t do anything more with it, I’ve been told it will heal by itself."Anglia Ruskin University student Jade is now urging Garnier to pull the product so no-one else suffers the same painful injury she has. Jade said: “If it can happen to me it can happen to anyone, I don’t want anyone else going through the pain that I have - it was horrific.“I’m not allergic to anything and as it’s only happened in one eye it’s clearly a chemical burn and not an allergic reaction."The bottle says it’s a product for face, eyes and lips.“I’ve been so self-conscious since it’s happened and been wearing sunglasses the whole time.