A mum thought she 'looked like Sloth from The Goonies' after suffering a horror reaction to an eyebrow tint.
Shocking photos show how Emily Price's face ballooned and her her forehead 'curled over' into her eyes after applying the popular beauty treatment.
Emily, 32, from Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, said she was left with red and crusty-looking brows after a trip to the salon on September 13.
The mum-of-one thought she wouldn't need a patch test as she previously used the product routinely - though hadn't since the pandemic outbreak.
She was initially happy with the results, but claims her eyebrows started to tingle an hour after having them done and it felt like a 'hot poker' on her skin.
But when Emily awoke unable to open her eyes properly she became concerned.
She was horrified when her startled husband leapt out of bed clutching a mirror so she could see her swollen, weeping face.
Emily rang her GP's surgery but was forced to simply describe her symptoms over the phone as she couldn't get a face-to-face appointment due to Covid.
With her face continuing to balloon over the coming days, Emily went to A&E where stunned staff prescribed her with powerful antibiotics to tackle the infection.
Emily fears her new allergic reaction could be a result of having had the Covid vaccine, after reading about links made between people having had Covid or having the vaccine and experiencing new allergies, however there is nothing to prove that.
And Emily, who is double-jabbed with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, still remains a staunch advocate of getting the vaccine.
Emily, who's never experienced allergic reactions in the past, watched in horror as her scabby eyebrows dropped off in patches - forcing her to colour them in with an eyebrow pencil.
Now healed, writer Emily is now speaking out about her ordeal to ensure no-one goes through what she has and is urging people to always carry out patch tests, even if they have previously not had an allergy.
Emily said: "An hour after I had them done I kept frowning and I realised it was tingling, like pins and needles.
"I thought maybe she left a little bit on so I gave my face a wash thinking it would get rid of any excess.
"As the hours went on it started to feel like when you burn yourself on a hot pan and you pull your hand away quickly.
"It was like that but it was as if I couldn't pull away from it, it was just burning hot like there was a poker across my eyebrows.
"I went to sleep and when I woke up there was a moment of panic as I couldn't open my eyes properly, they were just slits.
"My husband was next to me, he turned the light on and looked at me and he was like 'oh my god what's happened to your face?'.
"He ran and got a mirror, I could barely even see myself because my eyes were so swollen and I noticed that close, underneath the eyebrows, it had gone yellow.
"Days later I ended up going into hospital because it got worse. I looked like Sloth from The Goonies."
An hour after having the beauty treatment Emily started to experience a tingling sensation and the following day she woke up to discover her face had ballooned.
Worried at how it would develop, Emily managed to get a GP appointment over the phone on September 14th and was prescribed face wash, antihistamines and a steroid cream.
But the medications did not help, and Emily took herself to Prince Charles Hospital's A&E department in Merthyr Tydfil on September 17 and was seen quickly by a skin specialist who started her on a strong course of antibiotics.
She took a week-long course of antibiotics that cleared her skin but was horrified when patches of eyebrow hair dropped out.
Emily is sharing her experience to urge people to always get patch tested - claiming that although it's a 'pain' it's not worth being left 'looking like a car crash'.
A Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) spokesman said they investigate all reports of adverse effects from the vaccine.
They added there is no current evidence to support Emily's claim of the vaccine being responsible for her reaction.
The agency recommends anyone experience adverse side effects from the vaccine to report it through he MHRA Yellow Card Scheme.
