I got a chemical burn on my face from essential oils and I want to warn everyone reading how serious this is…
I had been following many wellness advocates on social media and wanted to try the hype around essential oils. Once I got my oil kit through a multilevel marketing company, I became apart of a community of girls who share about how they use their oils. They host classes where you can sign up to learn and ask any questions about essential oils. I’ve always been into skin care and I’ve been trying to get rid of my acne. I’m in my late twenties and yes, I still have acne. So any class that had to do with skincare, I was enrolling in all of them.
I watched the girls talk about how they roll oil on their faces. Every one says frankincense is the “holy grail of essential oils” especially for the face. I’ve heard many positive testimonials from the girls in the group about how frankincense renewed their skin. I watched my wellness sponsor roll frankincense oil all over her face. She says, “it’s great for the face, brightens up the skin, treats dry skin, reduce appearance of wrinkles, helps with aging” and the list goes on. Immediately I was thinking this will be great for my acne! I opened my frankincense oil and started rolling away.
My first reaction wasn’t anything serious. I went to bed and I started feeling a little tightness on my face. The next morning, I had a little bit of harden crusty yellow flakes on my cheeks. I thought maybe I had use a bad soap or lotion and that it’ll go away, but it didn’t. It got worse.
The next day, my face got much more crusty spreading to the upper forehead, cheeks, chin, neck and on my cupid’s bow. I thought to myself, “why is my face breaking out the day before I leave for my sister’s bachelorette party where I’m maid of honor and need to be there to set up?!” I thought, “oh! Lavender oil. My wellness sponsor says it’s supposed to be calming.” So I open up my lavender oil and start rolling away.
Immediately, after I put lavender on my face, it burned. And it burned so BADLY because I started screaming. That’s when you know. I ran to the shower to wash it off which I then learned later, that wasn’t the right thing to do. Oil and water do not mix. Apparently if you have oil on your face, you’re supposed to remove it with a fat source such as olive oil or milk. I then knew that it was from the essential oils that made my face tighten from the night before.
Over the next few hours, my skin started to swell. It was not looking good. My face started oozing yellow puss so I asked my boyfriend to cut some of our aloe vera plant and he applied it to my face. That felt better and kept it more dry but it wasn’t healing. I also put vaseline in some areas where my face lines had cracked and split open. I tried to go to bed early, because I had to catch an early morning flight for my sister’s bachelorette party. I toss and turn all night because my face is leaking of puss. I lay on a towel so it can soak up all the wetness. It was disgusting. I was laying in a wet puddle on my towel and it didn’t smell good. It also hurt and my lips had swelled up to where I couldn’t move them. I couldn’t even smile! I thought to myself, “is this how botox feels?”
I wake up at 2am to go rinse it off because of the gross yellow puss. That’s when I saw my face in the mirror. It was HUGE. Nothing like I’ve seen before. My eyes were so swollen and they were closing on me. I had blister bubbles forming all over my cheeks, forehead and chin. I called my sister to ask what to do but it was too early in the morning for her to pick up. I called my other sister and she picked up half asleep. I told her the news and that I cannot get on the plane feeling and looking like this. I had to wipe the wetness off my face every 30 seconds. I can’t image doing that on the plane next to someone. My face was sweating yellow puss everywhere! Not to mention it was blown up like a marshmallow. My sister told me to take benedryl and go to the doctor. So I took benedryl, slept hard for another two hours and then woke up, canceled my first flight and went to my doctor.
After visiting my doctor, she told me I had a chemical burn. She prescribed me steroids and a topical cream to put on my face. She also advised me to gently apply a teaspoon of white vinegar to two cups of water and cup it on my face throughout the day to wash out any infection. She cleared me to go to my sister’s bachelorette party and I hopped on the next flight out. Thankfully, the steroids kicked into my system pretty quickly and I ended up being fine at the bachelorette party. I just needed to avoid sun exposure.
I want to take the time to warn other girls about the side effects of essential oils. One may argue to always dilute oils when you put them on or do a patch test on your arm first. But there are so many ladies out there that don’t dilute them and they are sharing about how they roll oils all over their face and are ok. I have diluted oil rollers that I roll on my arms, stomach, feet, or back when needed and I never showed any reaction to it. It was my face that I burned. The quality of oils is important as well. I used a reputable brand and still had bad side effects.
You know the small print on labels of side effects that everyone disregards? Well I’m telling you now, please do not disregard this side effect! You may think you’re putting all-natural, plant-based, chemical-free products on your face, but this is serious. Remember our good friend poison oak or poison ivy? He’s all-natural, plant-based, chemical-free. Well, we’re allergic to him and that means you can be allergic to essential oils as well.
Even though I put frankincense and lavender on my skin, I want all readers to be aware of all oils on the face. I’ve read that citrus oils can be damaging and to not go out in the sun if you have a citrus oil on your face. I’m not trying to advocate to not use oils, but I want everyone to be aware of the risks. Best to err on the side of caution, and I don’t want this to happen to any one.
