Student accuses Garnier Micellar Water Oil Infused to cause eye irritations

Image from Garnier UK.

The Daily Mail is reporting that a 19-year-old college student, Jade Inglis of Cambridge England, used Garnier's Micellar Water Oil Infused and ended up having a reaction to it that caused her eye to "glue shut". She feared she could end up blind due to having a chemical burn to her eyeballs.

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Used under US Fair Use & UK Fair Dealings.

Jade rushed to A&E where stunned 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.

The abrasion showed up under the dye as a glowing green mark.

Marine biology student Jade has allowed pictured of her shocking images to be published in order to highlight the potential dangers of beauty products.

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 left - 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 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.'

So what happened and could it happen to someone else? The answer to the latter is that yes it could happen to someone else and it's most likely due to one particular ingredient used in the Garnier Micellar Water Oil Infused product - Violet 2.

Screenshot from Boots UK.

Ingredients as listed on the Boots UK website:

Ingredients
967054 2 - AQUA / WATER, CYCLOPENTASILOXANE, ISOHEXADECANE, ARGANIA SPINOSA OIL / ARGANIA SPINOSA KERNEL OIL, BENZYL ALCOHOL, BENZYL SALICYLATE, BUTYL METHOXYDIBENZOYLMETHANE, CI 60725 / VIOLET 2, DECYL GLUCOSIDE, DIPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, DISODIUM EDTA, ETHYLHEXYL METHOXYCINNAMATE, ETHYLHEXYL SALICYLATE, GERANIOL, HAEMATOCOCCUS PLUVIALIS / HAEMATOCOCCUS PLUVIALIS EXTRACT, HEXYLENE GLYCOL, LIMONENE, LINALOOL, PENTAERYTHRITYL TETRA-DI-T-BUTYL HYDROXYHYDROCINNAMATE, POLYAMINOPROPYL BIGUANIDE, POTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, SODIUM CHLORIDE, PARFUM / FRAGRANCE. (F.I.L. B176670/1)

Keep in mind that US laws are different than UK or EU laws so what's permitted in the UK or EU may not be permitted in the US. In this case, Violet 2 is one ingredient not permitted for eye use in the US by the US FDA.

Screenshot from the US FDA

Screenshot from the US FDA

So why is it not permitted in the US? Well, the answer is that it's possibly not permitted due to the fact that studies from the 1970s found that it can cause irritations. Specifically, one study found that Violet 2 can "...HAVE IRRITANT ACTION ON MUCOUS MEMBRANES". The waterline is a mucous membrane so its highly possible Ms. Inglis did have a reaction to Violet 2 or a combination of the ingredients. There's no way to be 100% certain on what caused the irritations other than it's highly possible it was a reaction to Violet 2.

Screenshot from National Toxicology Program
from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

So can Garnier Micellar Water Oil Infused cause irritations in other people? The answer is, yes, there is a possibility that other people can have similar chemical burns/reactions. This is definitely a product, in my opinion, that Garnier should pull from the market and reformulate by removing Violet 2 out of the ingredients.

Edit: Violet 2 can also be found in Garnier Micellar Water Delicate Skin and Eyes.