It’s normal for eyes to tear during facial extractions. I’ve had quite a few facial extractions, and after every one, my eyes were very watery.
The teary eyes are not from crying or weeping over the pain, even though women have been known to say, “The extractions hurt so much that tears were streaming down my eyes.”
The pain when the tip of my nose is being extracted is almost unbearable.
But the “pain” when my forehead, cheeks, chin and area where my nose meets my cheek endure extractions, is what I describe as, “It hurts, but it feels good.”
Recently I had a facial and as usual, when it was done, both eyes were tearing. I’ve always surmised that this tearing is the result of irritated nerves during the extraction process.
The buzzed nerves somehow connect to the lacrimal glands of the eyes. The lacrimal glands are responsible for making tears.
Later on in the day I noticed that my left eye had episodes of gradually welling up, till finally, a tear began rolling down.
But next day, that left eye just wouldn’t be normal.
I went to my 11 am tax appointment and every 20 minutes I had to wipe my cheek.
I had noticed, right after the facial, that the aesthetician had done a much more thorough job on the left side of my nose than on the right.
All day after my appointment, every 20 or 30 minutes, the water in my left eye built up enough to form a tear that began rolling down my cheek.
Looking in the mirror, I’d see that the eye was persistently welled up with water.
On the third day I just happened to have an appointment with my dermatologist for a routine skin exam, and I mentioned the facial extractions to her.
She said that indeed, extractions from a facial can irritate nerves in the face that, in turn, can stimulate the lacrimal (tear) glands … but she had never heard of this continuing to occur three days after the procedure.
On the fourth day, the eye had stopped tearing abnormally and everything was pretty much back to normal.
“Our eyes tear as a natural protective defense,” says Andrea Cambio, MD, board certified dermatologic surgeon, and medical director of Cambio Dermatology in Florida.
“The body must have thought the extractions were something irritating or caustic which caused the eyes to tear (in an attempt to flush out the irritant or caustic agent).
“Not sure why it was so prolonged — must have been some heavy duty extractions!”
Dr. Cambio has extensive training and experience in all aspects of adult and pediatric dermatology, laser, skin cancer, dermatologic surgery and cosmetic dermatology. advancedderm.com
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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