Eye care: Should you apply eyeliner to the waterline?

“The reason eye doctors do not recommend wearing eyeliner in the waterline of your eye is because there are specialised glands there that produce and excrete oil,” the doctor says in the video, according to Independent.

Dr Carver goes on to explain that while a healthy eye will have the glands excrete oil of the “olive oil texture”, in the case of her patient, the oil excreted seemed to be more like toothpaste. This also means that the eye is not producing “healthy tears”, resulting in dry eyes.

Agrees Dr Uma Malliah, Senior Consultant, Ophthalmology, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals. “Applying liquid eyeliner to the waterline can pose risk to the eyes,” she tells indianexpress.com. The expert instead recommended using organic or herbal kajal for the waterline.

To prevent any dry eyes or allergies, the doctor emphasised that one should clean remnants of eyeliner or kajal properly before going to bed.

“By practicing good hygiene techniques for removing and applying kajal and eyeliner, one can avoid many unwanted eye problems like allergic conjunctivitis arising from lead content in kajal products and dry eye syndrome.”