Eyelash removal

[Karanya]

I remember one of the kids I went to grade school with told me his dad cut his own eyelashes off because they would get matted with roofing tar or something when he was working. And since you folks are the manliest group I talk to... eh, worth a shot.

Anyone have the slightest clue as to how to go about removing one's eyelashes without causing damage? I need to de-eyelash the left side. I'm real iffy about going after them with scissors, and even more iffy about letting my husband go after them with scissors...

Shaving, plucking and waxing are out I think. :shock:

Nose hair trimmer maybe?

--K

[lxskllr]

I think I'd trim them short with scissors. If you pull them out, you could end up with ingrown hair problems.

Edit:
When I say scissors, I don't mean kitchen shears :^P

Now's a good opportunity to buy a Swiss Army knife(get Victorinox brand). The scissors in those would be perfect for fine trimming.

[Karanya]

I'm terrified of using scissors because (having monocular vision) I have no depth perception whatsoever.

I went after them with a tiny beard trimmer thing I found in my husband's hair clipper set. The cut tips are kinda pokey, but eh... at least I don't have shave bumps on my eyelids. :shock:

Hopefully the little bastards are short enough to avoid getting bent, folded, and otherwise irritating the hell out of me behind the patch.

--K

[lxskllr]

Sorry if you already said, but what happened to your eye?

[Karanya]

I lost it in a poker game.

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Sorry, couldn't resist.

In reality, my immune system ate one of my optic nerves, leaving me 99% blind (faint shadows and hints of motion) in the left eye. The remaining one percent vision is incredibly distracting and gives me godawful headaches if I don't wear a patch.

Oh, and the dead eye hurts like hell, too. Would love to have it out, but surgery is pricey and I'm health-insurance-free.

--K

[lxskllr]

Ah, bummer... Is your other eye safe?

I wonder how expensive laser removal(of the lashes) would be. That might not be too bad since it's such a small area.

[Karanya]

Theoretically, there's a small chance it'll recur in the other eye eventually. However, the chances of it causing serious damage are quite small.

Optic neuritis (the condition that killed my left optic nerve) isn't usually a huge ordeal... a little soreness, slightly blurry vision for a few weeks, then all is well. For whatever reason, my immune system went completely berzerk and left that eye useless with no chance of recovery.

It's been dead for some time but I finally got fed up with the stupid eyelashes poking me, haha.

Laser hair removal is an interesting thought. I wonder if they'd be willing to do it in that location, even knowing the eye was already dead... hmm.

Certainly worth looking into!

--K

[lxskllr]

Certainly worth looking into!

--K

:^D

I like your humor :^)

[RobsanX]

There is also electrolysis hair removal. It's done in clinics, and is permanent.

[tom502]

My aunt, for whatever reason, plucked hers out with tweezers.

[darkwing]

Karanya, I had the condition called trichiasis in both eyes, the top eyelashes. I had ingrown ones which would grow inwards and rub my corneas. I spent about 5 years wearing contact lenses all the time to be a barrier against the lashes, and I spent a lot of time with my face in a well-lit morror pulling the bastards out with special tweezers with one hand while holding my lid up and out hwit the other. Finally I had surgery to fix the problem. They basically cut my eyelids so they almost turned inside out (yes, grotesque), and when they healed, which took about a week, the lashes were pointing out where they should be and do not rub the corneas anymore. Everything looks normal now. I still have one trouble spot in my right lid where one lash still can grow wrong. I simply have to tweeze it every couple of months or so. Maybe you can get that same surgery on your problem eye?

[Karanya]

I suspect it might be easier to get electrolysis on the lashes than laser removal but I dunno. Either way, as long as there's an eye in the socket (worthless as it may be), I have a feeling most would run screaming out of liability fears.

Hmm... still, very curious as to what something like that would cost. Surely not too much considering it's such a small area.

I'll have to look into it further, but unless it's quite cheap I'd probably rather set aside the money towards getting the damn eye out. Hope I'm not getting too gruesome here, but without the volume of the useless eye in there, eyelashes would be a non-issue!

--K

[Karanya]

Karanya, I had the condition called trichiasis in both eyes, the top eyelashes. I had ingrown ones which would grow inwards and rub my corneas. I spent about 5 years wearing contact lenses all the time to be a barrier against the lashes, and I spent a lot of time with my face in a well-lit morror pulling the bastards out with special tweezers with one hand while holding my lid up and out hwit the other. Finally I had surgery to fix the problem. They basically cut my eyelids so they almost turned inside out (yes, grotesque), and when they healed, which took about a week, the lashes were pointing out where they should be and do not rub the corneas anymore. Everything looks normal now. I still have one trouble spot in my right lid where one lash still can grow wrong. I simply have to tweeze it every couple of months or so. Maybe you can get that same surgery on your problem eye?

It's an interesting thought, but without health insurance (I'm a freelancer), surgery tends to be insanely pricey. Also, my eyelashes are normal but with type of patch I wear (flat, holds the eye closed to help prevent any light getting in) they get mashed into my eye... so the fact that my eyelashes stick out (as they're supposed to) is actually the problem!

How did the plucking go? Any issues from ingrown hairs or anything from plucking your eyelashes? I imagine it wasn't comfortable yanking out your lashes :shock:

--K