Is there a safer method to use eyeliner on your waterline?
By definition, eyeliners contain chemicals like esters, waxes, and even silicones. So when you lay eyeliner on your lower eyelid water line or that upper eyelid water line, you're possibly physically obstructing the opening of those meibomian oil glands. It's like the esters and waxes and silicones are producing small micro blockages in that oil gland opening so that when you blink, not enough oil is going into the tears. This can likely make your dry eye MGD symptoms worse.
There are several cultures where using eyeliner on your waterline is as fundamental as wearing lip gloss. So advising a patient, hey, don't put eyeliner on your waterline is quite unrealistic. Although I'm not a fan of water lining, I'm going to give you some suggestions on how to apply eyeliner on your waterline more safely.
NUMBER ONE. You want to locate an eyeliner that has "cleaner ingredients." And I put it in quotations because even if it has cleaner components, it's still going include esters, waxes, and maybe silicones. But at the end of the day, substances do important when it comes to cosmetics and eye care.
NUMBER TWO. There's one behavior that I've seen a lot of my patients do. They'll take, especially a kohl liner, and implant it on the lower water line. Then they will press their eyelids together very tight and then they'll just perform this abrasive back and forth, back and forth action until the eyeliner is done on that water line on the upper and bottom. Instead of doing that fairly abrasive and forceful motion, just maybe pull down that bottom lid and gently just put one layer on the lower waterline. If you still want to do the upper – same thing, one swipe and done. Here, you're aiming to minimize the volume of esters, waxes and silicones on the meibomian glands.
Read Also: Techniques for Applying White Eyeliner on Waterline
To clean the waterline, you are going to place one drop of cleaning oil on a cotton swab. Remember that oil cleans oil so that's why you want to use a cleaning oil for this, especially if there are ester and waxes and silicones you're attempting to clean. So you are going to remove all of your eye makeup like you would usually, then you are going to moisten a cotton swab with 1 drop of the cleaning oil. This is your second phase, and you're going to go in and make sure all of those ester and waxes and silicones are gone. There are four sides to a cotton swab: the top face, top backside, bottom face and bottom backside. Four sides to a cotton swab and you have 4 eyelid margins. The logic is killing me, haha. Gently cleanse the lower eyelid waterline, then the upper waterline. Repeat on the other 2 eyelids to obtain a beautiful clean.
Same procedure as previously, but this time you're going to take that washing oil and match it with this little looking toothbrush. It's called Eyelid Margin Scrub Brush for exfoliating off all those esters, waxes, and silicones that might be physically obstructing the meibmomian gland openings.
Make sure you scrub and exfoliate all four eyelids. You wish to absolutely utilize a 10 times LED magnifying mirror for the greatest vision and control. You do not want to scratch your eye! This is the deep cleaning. You always want to use an oil cleaner because as I stated, oil cleans oil. 1 drop of the cleaning oil on the scrub brush, shake off any excess, and you'll notice the bristles grow dark because of the buried eyeliner wax, etc. This step may certainly make your eyes and nose wet, but the clean you will feel after is a wonderful clean.
Tove Svendson 
Is there a safer method to use eyeliner on your waterline?
By definition, eyeliners contain chemicals like esters, waxes, and even silicones. So when you lay eyeliner on your lower eyelid water line or that upper eyelid water line, you're possibly physically obstructing the opening of those meibomian oil glands. It's like the esters and waxes and silicones are producing small micro blockages in that oil gland opening so that when you blink, not enough oil is going into the tears. This can likely make your dry eye MGD symptoms worse.
There are several cultures where using eyeliner on your waterline is as fundamental as wearing lip gloss. So advising a patient, hey, don't put eyeliner on your waterline is quite unrealistic. Although I'm not a fan of water lining, I'm going to give you some suggestions on how to apply eyeliner on your waterline more safely.
NUMBER ONE. You want to locate an eyeliner that has "cleaner ingredients." And I put it in quotations because even if it has cleaner components, it's still going include esters, waxes, and maybe silicones. But at the end of the day, substances do important when it comes to cosmetics and eye care.
NUMBER TWO. There's one behavior that I've seen a lot of my patients do. They'll take, especially a kohl liner, and implant it on the lower water line. Then they will press their eyelids together very tight and then they'll just perform this abrasive back and forth, back and forth action until the eyeliner is done on that water line on the upper and bottom. Instead of doing that fairly abrasive and forceful motion, just maybe pull down that bottom lid and gently just put one layer on the lower waterline. If you still want to do the upper – same thing, one swipe and done. Here, you're aiming to minimize the volume of esters, waxes and silicones on the meibomian glands.
Read Also: Techniques for Applying White Eyeliner on Waterline
To clean the waterline, you are going to place one drop of cleaning oil on a cotton swab. Remember that oil cleans oil so that's why you want to use a cleaning oil for this, especially if there are ester and waxes and silicones you're attempting to clean. So you are going to remove all of your eye makeup like you would usually, then you are going to moisten a cotton swab with 1 drop of the cleaning oil. This is your second phase, and you're going to go in and make sure all of those ester and waxes and silicones are gone. There are four sides to a cotton swab: the top face, top backside, bottom face and bottom backside. Four sides to a cotton swab and you have 4 eyelid margins. The logic is killing me, haha. Gently cleanse the lower eyelid waterline, then the upper waterline. Repeat on the other 2 eyelids to obtain a beautiful clean.
Same procedure as previously, but this time you're going to take that washing oil and match it with this little looking toothbrush. It's called Eyelid Margin Scrub Brush for exfoliating off all those esters, waxes, and silicones that might be physically obstructing the meibmomian gland openings.
Make sure you scrub and exfoliate all four eyelids. You wish to absolutely utilize a 10 times LED magnifying mirror for the greatest vision and control. You do not want to scratch your eye! This is the deep cleaning. You always want to use an oil cleaner because as I stated, oil cleans oil. 1 drop of the cleaning oil on the scrub brush, shake off any excess, and you'll notice the bristles grow dark because of the buried eyeliner wax, etc. This step may certainly make your eyes and nose wet, but the clean you will feel after is a wonderful clean.