Girl, 16, almost blinded in beauty treatment reaction

Katie Thompson was left with a swollen face and blistered skin after a friend, who was studying beauty therapy at Walsall College, performed an eyelash tint on her last month.

The 16-year-old's eyebrows and eyelashes burned off as a result and doctors warned her she could have been blinded after she suffered an allergic reaction following the procedure last month.

Katie, who lives in Bloxwich, said: "My friend is training in beauty therapy at Walsall College.

"The products were just in white tubes. Everything was fine and I went to bed but the next day I woke up with heavy, severely swollen eyes.

"I looked in the mirror and I was shocked. I looked like a completely different person. I couldn't really see. My left eye was almost completely shut.

"The pain got a lot worse the next day. I just wanted to pull my eyes out. It was quite scary really."

Katie went to the walk-in health centre at Walsall Manor Hospital fearing she would be left scarred for life.

She added: "The doctor told me I was very lucky to have my eyesight. My friend feels distraught ."

Katie, who lives with her mother Patricia, aged 39 and her brother Ben, 10, now has to go for check-ups at the hospital three times a week to make sure her skin heals correctly.

Joan Nimmo, head of curriculum cluster for services to people at Walsall College, said: "There is a recognised industry-wide process for testing products prior to treatments being performed. All of our students go through rigorous health and safety training within a professional environment and to maintain the highest standards of training and development we ensure students are supervised at all times.

"As with all beauty treatments, there is unfortunately always an element of risk involved and we go to great lengths in warning students of the potential dangers when performing similar treatments outside of college hours."