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Woman Gets Staph Infection From Dirty Makeup Brush

An American woman caused quite an international stir after sharing her horrifying experience with a serious skin infection, which she thinks was brought on by using dirty make-up brushes.

Katie Wright from Austin, Texas, popped a pimple above her eyebrow and went to get treated for cellulitis, Independent.ie reports. The spot turned out to be a staph infection, which then began to spread quickly across her face within just one hour.

In a post she shared on the Make Up Heavens Facebook page, Katie described what she went through,

My face grew hot and swollen, then disfigured very quickly, with an oozing open wound that kept getting bigger.

Cellulitis is a painful bacterial infection that penetrates the skin’s inner layers. It can be fatal in rare cases, especially if left untreated.

Doctors at St. David’s North Medical Centre were worried that the infection could damage Katie’s eyesight, given the proximity to her eyes, and that it might even spread to her brain. She was treated with IV antibiotics, which treated the infection.

Katie is now raising awareness on the danger of staph infections, and cautioning people to take better care of their make-up brushes, including washing them regularly. She believes the infection came from a dirty eyebrow brush.

She wrote: “It was scary and awful but it could have been so much worse. Although I feared my face would not heal, I was relieved to have my vision and my life spared. I shared my very expensive lesson with the community of make-up artists, bloggers and fans in the hope others might avoid going through the same thing. I shared my very expensive lesson with the community of make-up artists, bloggers and fans in the hope others might avoid going through the same thing.”

There is a GoFundMe page set up to help Katie cover the costs incurred due to her condition.

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