Tamika Cleggett just wanted to have her eyebrows done.
At 30, the Australian woman went to a new beautician in April 2016, four months before her wedding. She asked to have her eyebrows waxed and, according to her, they ended up tinting them without her permission. The not-so-minor detail: she knew she was allergic to the dye, but she hadn’t told the professional.
First came itching. Then a burning sensation, like intense heat, and then blisters that looked like a burn. Her eyes closed completely, and she couldn’t see for 24 hours. The doctors kept her in the hospital for two days to make sure the swelling didn’t reach her throat. The fluid ran down her face for four days and left her looking, as she herself describes it, a little deformed.
And even so, she went out. With her face looking like that, she went with a friend to a local event and went on the rides with the children, guided as if she were blind. She says that to them, she was Frankenstein. Today she tells the story with a laugh to remind people of something basic: do an allergy test before any treatment. Would you?
