‘I needed to be princess for wedding ceremony however ended up like Sloth from The Goonies’

Polly Bibby called 111 and was told to go to A&E

A bride-to-be who wanted to be a ‘princess’ on her wedding day ended up ‘looking like Sloth from The Goonies’ after a horror allergic reaction to fake eyelashes. Polly Bibby decided to try classic eyelash extensions as she wanted to feel like a ‘princess’ on her big day compared to her usual minimal make-up look.

Polly, 26, said she had a patch test done and, as she suffered no reaction, went ahead with the procedure on July 5. After getting the £65 treatment done, the illustrator claims she was initially happy with her ‘dressier’ appearance.

Just a few hours after the appointment, Polly’s eyes became watery and sore, but she shrugged it off as hay fever. But when her eyes started to sting and stick together with yellow discharge, Polly said alarm bells began to ring and she called 111 and was advised to go to A&E.

A shocking photo shows her eyes red raw and swollen closed, with Polly admitting she looked like Sloth from the Goonies. After being seen by a nurse on the eye unit at Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Hinchingbrooke, Cambridge, it was confirmed she’d suffered an allergic reaction to her eyelash extensions.

She was then given a course of antibiotics, strong antihistamines and was told to wait three days for the swelling to go down before getting them removed. Even though her skin is slowly healing, Polly was left fearing she could still have red eyes when she said ‘I do’ to her 29-year-old fiancé Benjamin May on July 24. Now, Polly is sharing her experience to warn other brides about getting new treatments so close to their big day.

Polly, from Sawtry, Cambridgeshire, said: “I don’t wear that much make-up. Getting married is the biggest day of your life, so I just wanted to test out different make-up and actually feel like a princess for the day.

“This was a trial for the wedding, I’d never had my eyelashes done before. When I first had them done, I really liked them.

“With having hay fever, I thought it was that at first. My eyes were watery and sore.

“About four or five hours after the appointment, my partner looked at my eyes and thought they were a little red. By that evening, they had gone red raw and were stinging.

“The only way I can describe [how I looked] is the man from The Goonies with the big puffy eyes called Sloth. I just didn’t look like myself, I looked like a different person.

“They were burning and it got to the point where I was losing my vision and I couldn’t see at all. Every time I blinked, my eyes were sticking together as I had discharge building up on my eyes.

“It was a sticky yellow discharge pretty similar to when babies have conjunctivitis. They were quite taken aback and shocked by it in A&E, they said it was an allergic reaction to the eyelash extensions.”

Polly said she had a patch test and a lash lift done at the same salon in May before her Italian Lake Garda hen do and suffered no allergic reaction then either. During the removal process of her false lashes, she claimed it felt like acid was being poured onto her face.

Speaking before her big day, Polly said: “I was in so much pain. It was like pouring acid [on my face]. I was screaming, crying and tensing up.

“My eyes are still red, scabby and very ‘rashy’. The eyelids themselves are really swollen and I’ve still got quite blurry vision.

“I’m terrified of putting anything on my eyes [on my wedding day]. I might have to go make-up-less on my wedding day.

“I fear it’s going to look quite red on my wedding day. I didn’t realise that when people joke around and say things are going to go wrong [on your wedding day], I didn’t realise it would happen to me.”

Polly added: “Going through that pain was not worth it. If I knew in hindsight, I’d just use mascara. I’d hate anyone else to go through this.”