A Michigan woman is recovering from potentially life-threatening side effects from an eyebrow microblading procedure she got on the cheap, Detroit’s WDIV reports.
Microblading is a semi-permanent cosmetic procedure that involves making shallow cuts on the eyebrows with tiny pigment-dipped needles. The results are meant to look like natural hair on the eyebrows.
“[At first], it looked great,” Jennifer said. “I was happy.”
Plus, Jennifer was happy that she got her microblading done for $250—a huge discount over the standard $700-$800 price tag.
But as the days went on, redness, swelling and blistering began to set in, Jennifer said. She went to urgent care and was diagnosed with cellulitis; she was prescribed an antibiotic, but it kept getting worse.
It got so bad that Jennifer went to the emergency room and spent three days in the hospital.
“When they admitted me, they put me on an IV bag antibiotic and then the next morning, they started me on steroids,” she said. “I was terrified…. My face is swelling up, my eyes are closing. I’m thinking, ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen.’”
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Dermatologist Stephen Grekin said it’s difficult to tell what caused Jennifer’s condition because “there are a lot of variables in this case.” She may have been allergic to the ink or something used to prep her skin for the procedure, or she may have gotten an infection, he said.
But there was one thing Grekin was certain on: Jennifer’s condition was dangerous.
“This is potentially life-threatening if not treated because what’s right behind here—sinuses,” Grekin said. “What do the sinuses communicate? Boom: They go right to the brain.
“I think it’s buyer beware,” he added. “I think you have to do your research. I think you have to have multiple visits to make certain that you’re comfortable that the place is clean, it’s efficiently run, that this is not taken as sort of a cavalier, ‘Come in and get your eyebrows waxed.’”
Jennifer is recovering, but said she will never try microblading again. Instead, she will stick to eyebrow makeup.
