Woman contracts ‘traumatising’ infection using dirty makeup brush

How often do you clean your makeup brushes?

Apparently, we should be giving them a good wash every few weeks due to the build up of bacteria, dead skin, and old product. However, it's unlikely that many of us get to stick to this rigorous routine due to busy-ness, forgetfulness, or just plain old laziness. As it turns out, dirty makeup brushes don't just give us acne, they can also leave us with very serious infections if we don't tend to them properly. Twitter user Katie Wright has had such an experience, and she took to social media recently to share it. She posted before and after photos of what happened after she tried to pop what she thought was a "giant under the skin pimple." But after a few hours, she says her face started to swell up, becoming incredibly painful. Katie wrote:

"It felt like something was going to burst out of my skin. I went to the emergency room and they said it was a very severe case of Cellulitis, which is a version of  Staph infection (...) Since it was on my face there was a huge risk of it spreading to my brain or my eyes causing me to go blind. Serious shit."

She went on to say that she believes this most likely happened because of bacteria on her eyebrow pencil brush. Katie said that although she is usually very strict about cleaning her brushes, she never thought to wash the eyebrow spoolie.

“If you wear makeup PLEASE make that a step in your cleaning routine. It's a small thing to do to avoid a painful, expensive and traumatising infection on your face.”

Katie's post went viral within a few hours, with many expressing shock over the damage that an unclean makeup brush can cause. When washing makeup brushes, it's important to use lukewarm water and a gentle cleaning product like baby shampoo. The bristles need to be rinsed in the water mixture and then patted dry before using again. Katie has since posted an update of her face's condition, less than a week after her original post. https://twitter.com/katiewright/status/894919122982776832 She has since joked on Twitter about going viral "for being ugly." Katie's GoFundMe page to pay for her medical bills can be found here.