The Reason This Woman Went Blind Will Put You Off Glitter Eye Make-Up Forever

We’re all for a bit of shimmer and sparkle when it comes to Saturday night make-up, but here’s some advice for all glitter-aholics out there… Proceed with caution.

One woman in the US has revealed how she went blind and now has to wear a prosthetic eye, after a SINGLE piece of art-and-craft glitter got trapped in her eye socket. Erica Diaz was cleaning up after her daughter’s crafts session when the glitter got stuck, cutting her cornea and leading to a severe eye infection.

The result? Two failed cornea transplants, months of surgery, and the eventual removal of her eye to prevent sepsis (blood poisoning) and possible death.

Of course, not all glitters are created equal. Glitter products that are specifically made for the eye area like shimmer shadows or liners are a fine enough texture to be safe if you get some in your eye (hello, shaky hands).

But if you were thinking of getting crafty and applying some gold kids’ glitter on your lids for that upcoming Eighties party, think again.

Erika’s been documenting her story – and her loooong recovery process – over on Imgur, from the horrific first photos of the infection (pus n’ all) to the current photos of her surprisingly realistic prosthetic:

A year on, and while Erika’s still adjusting to her new prosthetic eye (“It moves, but not as much as my other eye”), she’s aware things could have turned out drastically worse.

“There was a chance that [a] f*cking piece of glitter in my eye could actually kill me,” she writes in one of her updates.

“I beg you, PLEASE wear eye protection when dealing with glitter.”

That’s us told.

• blindness
• eyeshadow
• glitter
• glitter eyeshadow
• warning