Makeup, Eyelash Extensions, and TED

I have talked a ton previously about my thyroid eye disease (TED). For a little recap, I was diagnosed with Graves’ disease in my mid-twenties and then later diagnosed with TED.

My TED symptoms

At first it was not bad at all, my eyes just felt a little uncomfortable and would water. They also felt really tired, all the time. It was the strangest feeling. Like the muscles in my eyes were tired, and it was a constant feeling all the time. It got so bad that I had constant dry eyes and one of my eyes looked a lot larger than the other. It was because my one eyelid was pulled back more than the other.

At that point I was at my lowest and did not want to leave the house. I had seen specialists that deal with TED and they had basically told me to wait it out and that with time things would get better.

What they did not say was it would take a lot of time. They did not want me on steroids just yet and wanted me to wait it out. I remember talking to my endocrinologist and she had even said down the road there was a little cosmetic procedure that I could do.

My experience wearing makeup

I had never been a big makeup wearer. I barely wore any. In fact, when I was going through everything with TED, I tried my best to cover everything up but I honestly felt like it was impossible and no matter what I did, nothing changed.

I also had really bad dry eye and wearing makeup around my eyes was extremely uncomfortable. Mascara, eyeshadow, everything, was really uncomfortable. I was upset because the one item of makeup I would always wear was mascara. I felt like the mascara almost made everything more noticeable.

It took a very long time, but my eyes did get a lot better.

Considering eyelash extensions with thyroid eye disease

Fast forward to now, and I was thinking about my eyes and how they feel. While they look better, the dry eye is still very much a real thing.

I recently wanted to get eyelash extensions because I wanted to be able to just get up and not have to put makeup on. I remember scheduling an appointment and then canceling it a few times because I was so torn.

I wanted what a lot of other people are getting, but I think I knew deep down that I would feel really uncomfortable, due to my dry eyes. It made me realize that a lot of people do not have to think about these types of things. If they want something, like eyelashes, they can just go and get them done and not have anxiety about how you are going to feel after.

It is crazy to me to think that even though I feel a ton better, there are always going to be situations where you have to stop and think, is this really a good idea and long-term how will I feel?