A mother shared the shocking story of how her eyebrow tint caused her to look like Quasimodo.
Clare McGuire, 34, from Stretford, Greater Manchester, got her eyebrows waxed and tinted at a salon for the first time on October 13, and claims the beauty technician incorrectly applied her patch test to her hand.
She claims she was told to leave the treatment on for an hour. Her reaction didn’t show up prior to the treatment.
She later had to rush herself to the A&E twice after the reaction left her with a swollen face and a swollen tongue, which emergency care staff warned could have been a choking hazard.
Clare stated that it’s been three weeks since I was last back to normal. She said she still has redness and scabs, and is worried they won’t grow back properly.
“Doctors advised me not to have a reaction like this again. So I’m going to stick to threading.”
Clare McGuire, 34, from Stretford, Greater Manchester got her eyebrows waxed and tinted at a salon for the first time on Wednesday and says she’s still suffering from ‘scabby’ eyebrows after suffering an allergic reaction (left and right)
The mother decided to have her eyebrows tinted and waxed, and to have eyelash extensions done for confidence.
Clare stated that she had never had waxing or tinting done. She said that she just had her eyebrows threaded.
Clare booked in at a salon for a spot and did a patch test the day prior to her appointment. However Clare claims that the beauty technician applied the test to her hands and told her to leave it on until her appointment.
She stated, “The day before, I went for a patch-test and she tested the tint for my eyebrows and the glue to my eyelashes. She told me to leave it on for one hour.”
It was the first time she had ever applied eyebrow tint to her eyebrows. She claims that the beauty therapist didn’t conduct an allergy test.
“I was out for the remainder of the day, so I left the shirt on for longer and it didn’t react.”
Clare only realized this after she did her own research after experiencing a horrible reaction.
She said, “But I discovered after that she should have done the patch test behind mine and it should’ve stayed there for at least 24 hours. That’s because of her training.”
Clare was irritated by the redness of her face just hours after having her eyebrows done.
She explained that her allergic reaction caused her eyebrows to become red, itchy, and scabby.
Clare was so ill that she had to rush to the hospital. After the reaction, Clare received an IV treatment.
Clare was admitted to Trafford General hospital in Trafford (Greater Manchester) that evening. She was given an EpiPen shot, steroid tablets, and then she was allowed home.
Clare said that red spots started appearing around her eyebrows. She suggested that I contact the girl who did them. She said to take antihistamines, which I did.
“But then, a couple hours later, my eyes started to close and I started swelling up. I called 111 to get their advice and was directed to the hospital.
“In hospital, they gave me an EpiPen shot with steroid tablets and sent it home. But, my condition deteriorated overnight so I returned to the hospital and was put on an intravenous drip.
The mother-of-2 was shocked to find her face had ballooned overnight. She was also stunned to discover her tongue was missing. She was then taken back to hospital by horrified doctors who claimed that the swelling was so severe that she could have choked in bed.
The mother of two was stunned to see her face balloon overnight. Her tongue was also affected. She returned to hospital, where her horrified doctors said that the swelling was so severe that she could have choked.
She said: ‘Urgent care said because my tongue had swollen I could have choked. It was very scary to hear that I could have died.
“Over the next few day it got worse – my eyebrows became really reddened and were swelling, scabbing, and seeping.
“I thought I looked like Quasimodo, and my sons said I looked like the Elephant Man.
After three weeks she is still healing but thankful that her face isn’t as swollen anymore (pictured)
“I wear glasses, but my face was too swelling to put them on for three straight days.”
The traumatized worker in care has now pledged never to have her eyebrows tinted and has shared photos of the dramatic reaction to warn others about a proper patch test.
Doctors prescribed steroid pills, antihistamines as well as antibiotics to help Claire with her allergic reaction and fight infection from her’scabby eyebrows’.
She is still healing after three weeks, but she is thankful her face isn’t as swollen now, thanks to her sons Matthew Fryers (15, and Mark Fryers (13) joking that it made her look like ‘the elephant man’.
She is now warning others about the importance of a proper patch-test to avoid potentially life-threatening reactions like she experienced.
Clare said: ‘People need to know this can happen and make sure they get a patch test behind their ear and leave it on for 24 hours.’