Three months before her wedding day, Louise Jackson booked into a salon for a set of eyelash extensions.

This is a process where individual synthetic lashes are glued onto your own, promising a lash- boosting effect lasting up to six weeks.

Louise had never had the treatment before, but this was a trial run for the longer, fuller lashes she hoped would add a bit of glamour to her big day.

Painful: Sarah Fletcher’s sore eys after lash extensions. Right: As she is today

The salon she visited in Gloucester specialised in these kinds of extensions and Louise was excited as she lay back waiting for the therapist to work her magic.

‘After half an hour she told me to open my eyes and look in the mirror,’ says Louise, 28, a hairdresser from Bexley, Kent.

‘But I couldn’t – they were stuck together. I told her and she said: “I’ll just get some tweezers.”

‘I thought that a couple of the lashes  must have got stuck, but as she prised my eyes apart I could feel my skin being pulled – my eyelids were stuck together.

‘I screamed with the pain. When she finally prised my eyes open, I looked in the mirror and could see that dozens of my own lashes had been pulled out in the process.

‘There were gaps on the upper and lower lids.

‘I started crying and felt as if I was having a panic attack. I refused to pay and left in flood of tears, with the glue still burning my eyes.’

Louise phoned a beautician friend: ‘She told me to try to remove the glue and false lashes with baby oil, but they didn’t budge. My eyes just got more sore and even puffier.’

In desperation, Louise – now married to Mark, who works for Royal Mail – went to the A&E department at Stroud General Hospital. Doctors were shocked by what they saw.

‘They told me it looked as if the salon had used super-glue, but they couldn’t take it off because they said further chemicals would irritate my eyes even more.

‘They told me my eyeball had been scratched by the tweezers, but all I could do was wait for the lashes to fall out and for my eyes to calm down. They said it would take a couple of weeks.

‘I was so upset and worried that they wouldn’t get better before my wedding.  I picked off the lashes and glue, bit by bit, every day for the next week. It was agony,’ she says.

‘Even though the salon specialised in brows and lashes, I don’t think the therapist had a clue what she was doing. Friends said I should take legal action, but I couldn’t face it. I have since found out the salon closed. I’m not surprised.’

Before and after: Melanie Beck after a bad reaction to eyelash glue, and Melanie now

Louise’s case is extreme, but it is far from unique, according to an investigation published in the magazine Consumer Reports last month.

It found that the use of eyelash extensions can cause a host of problems, including eye infections and loss of the natural lashes.

The glue used to attach the lashes often contains formaldehyde or Latex, which can cause allergic reactions, including swelling, blisters, pain and itching. What’s more, repeated use or bad applications of the extensions can cause natural lashes to fall out – and even stop growing altogether.

Yet women cannot get enough of the treatment, which is supposed to leave them with full, long lashes, eradicating the need for mascara.

Thanks to celebrity users including Adele, Jennifer Lopez, Kim Kardashian and Cheryl Cole, the lash market is big business, with salons charging between £90 and £300 for a full set, which can take up to 90 minutes to apply.

During the six weeks the lashes are supposed to last, a few of your eyelashes will shed naturally, so some therapists recommend you come back for refills or infills, for which they charge extra.

However, the Royal College of Ophthalmologists warns: ‘Repeated use of eyelash extensions can cause traction alopecia, a condition where the hair falls out due to excessive tension placed on the hair shaft.’

And that hair loss is not always temporary.

‘If you have a bad reaction to the glue or get an infection in the area, the follicles can be affected. In severe cases, the lashes fall out and won’t grow back,’ says spokesman Bernard Chang.

Finally, the lack of regulation of the industry means that therapists can be untrained.

‘Anyone can order glue and lashes from the internet and set themselves up overnight,’ says Sue Marsh, who was one of the first women to bring eyelash extensions to the country and has written a manual teaching people how to apply lashes safely. She spends much of her time fixing problems caused by bad eyelash extensions.

Sue, whose clients include Patsy Kensit and Naomi Campbell, says: ‘I am appalled by some of the things being done to women’s eyes. I’ve seen swollen faces from allergic reactions to eyelash glue, women with lashes that have broken off or fallen out in clumps and girls who have caught infections from unhygienic technicians.’

Another problem, says Sue, is that women are using the lashes all the time, instead of just once in a while. ‘I know of girls going back every two weeks,’ says Sue. ‘They get so used to full lashes they feel naked without them. They get addicted.

‘But lash extensions should not be worn continuously. Your own lashes will become weak, especially if you are loading on cheap, heavy extensions.’

It may be time to dig out the mascara again… False eyelashes can have too many dangerous complications

‘Salons are applying thicker, heavier lashes because it’s quicker for them to get results – but the weight makes your natural lashes twist and fall out.

‘Refilling every two weeks only makes matters worse because newly grown lashes don’t have the strength to support an extension.’

What’s more, says Sue, it is possible to develop intolerance to eyelash glue.

Take Sarah Fletcher, who had been wearing eyelash extensions for the past two or three years with no problems -until this January.

Sarah, 29, an employment law consultant from Glasgow, says: ‘As a contact lens wearer, mascara irritates my eyes, so I wear extensions for special occasions or holidays.

‘I’d get them put on, then get infills so that they would last about two or three months, then have a break.’

In January, she went to a local salon in Glasgow to get them done before going away on a skiing holiday.

‘During the application my eyes were stinging, which hadn’t happened  before. The therapist told me it would settle down – but it didn’t.

‘By the next morning my eyes were so puffy I couldn’t put in my lenses.’

Sarah had to travel for work that day, so she couldn’t go back to the salon. By that night her whole face was swollen.

‘It was horrific. Not only were my eyes swelling, itching and burning, but my cheeks were, too. I was away in Aberdeen, so the next day I went to a salon there and begged them to remove the lashes.

‘They told me it looked as if the glue had been applied to my eyelids rather than the lashes, so it had got onto my skin.’

After the lashes were removed, she thought things would improve: ‘But by Tuesday I couldn’t sleep with the stinging and burning. Every time I looked in the mirror, I saw a monster – the swelling was getting worse.

Sans-lashes: Sarah Fletcher had to go to A&E because her eyes (and even cheeks!) had swollen so much

‘On Wednesday morning I went to A&E, and the doctors told me that I had swelling and conjunctivitis caused by the glue from the lashes. They gave me antihistamines and antibiotics for my eyes.’

It took a week for the symptoms to go. Sarah contacted the salon where she’d had them done. ‘I told them what had happened, but they weren’t sympathetic,’ she says.

‘I asked for a refund, but they said no  and offered me a new set at half-price. I told them I’d never have lashes again.

‘When I said I would pursue a claim, they then offered a refund. I was so annoyed at their lack of concern that I chose not to accept.’

Sarah is considering pursuing a personal injury claim instead. Melanie Beck, 47, says her salon was just as cavalier after she had a similar allergic reaction. She decided to treat herself to extensions at a salon in Milton Keynes.

‘Three hours after having them attached, my eyes were sore and bloodshot. As the evening progressed the problem got worse.

‘I was so distressed that I returned to the salon the next day and asked them to take off the lashes. Having the extensions removed caused many of my own lashes to fall out, leaving them looking more sparse than before – what’s more, the swelling got worse.

‘By the following morning I was in agony and my eyes were so swollen that I could barely open them. As the day went on, the swelling extended to my entire face and the skin around my eyes became sore, like bad eczema.

‘I went to A&E where a doctor confirmed I’d an allergic reaction to the glue used to attach the lashes. He prescribed a steroid cream, antihistamines and eye drops to halt the reaction. It was a week before the swelling subsided.’

So how can you  protect yourself?

Before having lashes applied for the first time, have a test done by applying a single lash to the eyes. If you have had extensions before, but not in the past six months, ask for another test to confirm  you have not developed a sensitivity.

If in doubt, look for a therapist who is a member of the Beauty Guild or British Association of Beauty Therapy and Cosmetology – this means they are qualified and insured.

Make sure the salon does light lashes and they are applied singly.

Most importantly, remember that eyelash extensions should be a temporary treat. Allow six months rest in between treatments. ‘The eyelash industry has tried to pretend that wearing extensions continuously isn’t bad for the eyelashes, but it is,’ says Sue.

Time to dig out the mascara again …

Read more: Daily Mail