Refilwe Motiang just wanted to look pretty before a trip.
She was 31 years old, lived in Midrand, South Africa, and last Thursday went to a beauty salon to get eyelash extensions. Halfway through the procedure, she felt an unbearable burning in her eyes. She alerted the technician, but they told her it was normal, that the glue was strong so the eyelashes would last longer. The pain did not go away. She began to tremble, tears kept her from opening her eyelids, and that was when she realized something was very wrong.
They rushed her to a hospital, where doctors found that her corneas were damaged. She spent days with her eyes bandaged, unable to see, shut away in a dark room so the light would not hurt her even more. ““I felt alone and sad, thinking: all this just because I wanted to look beautiful?””, she said.
Today, she is gradually recovering her sight and is considering legal action against the salon. Her children, she says, were the most frightened of all.