14 DAY TRIAL // A 27-year-old woman from Australia has been left paralyzed after contracting a staph infection from her best friend’s makeup brush. Jo Gilchrist’s most optimistic prognosis is that, after medication and therapy, she might be able to walk and stand for one or two hours a day.
Her case is horrifying, but it’s also very rare, dermatologist Dr. Sejal Shah says for Yahoo! Beauty: about one in a million staph infections can have this kind of disastrous consequences. However, it should be regarded as a cautionary tale by all women using makeup products, whether regularly on a daily basis or every once in a while.
Jo’s tragic story goes viral
Jo was getting ready for Valentine’s Day at her friend’s house when she noticed a new pimple on her face. She asked for some concealer and a brush to apply it with, got the job done and didn’t think about it until later.
She developed a back pain, which she erroneously attributed at first to bad posture in front of the computer, she says for the Daily Mail. Soon after, she started experiencing pain in other parts of her body and numbness in her limbs, followed by complete loss of feeling.
She was rushed to the hospital and had to have surgery, wherein it was determined that she had contracted MRSA, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus or staph. It was antibiotic resistant and it had spread to her spine.
Right now, she’s still under treatment and is actually happy to have been told that a day could come when she might be able to walk or stand, if only for two hours a day tops. Her initial prognosis was that she would never walk again.
No borrowing of makeup brushes, washing your own regularly
As Dr. Shah says, Jo’s case, as chilling as it is, is very rare, but we should learn a lesson from her tragedy. Certain cosmetic products and makeup brushes are personal items that should not be shared with anyone else.
“Makeup brushes can cause viral and fungal infections,” Dr. Shah says. “You never know what someone has or what bacteria is growing. I recommend never sharing makeup or brushes.”
The more common signs of an infection include “red, swollen, and tender skin with bumps, and with or without pus, blisters, or crusting,” which should be your alarm signal to see a specialist, especially if you know you’ve used someone else’s brushes.
Another thing that you should do to prevent infection is to never use products after their by-date and to follow the manufacturer’s general guidelines for use. The longer you keep a cosmetic product past its by-date, the higher the risk of an infection.
As the specialist puts it, when you start getting sick, you will have understood that using an expired product was simply not worth it.
On the same note, if you notice something strange happening to your skin after using one product, toss it to the garbage immediately.
Last but not least, wash your makeup brushes regularly, once a week, with warm water and soap. This will ensure that whatever comes between your face and your cosmetic product is as safe as possible for the health of the skin.