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For Shirley Potter, 50, being asked out for an evening of dancing with her daughters was a dream come true.
After a difficult period which saw her experience renal failure and a kidney transplant, she was ecstatic to enjoy time with her children.
But since that night, Ms Potter, from Adelaide, South Australia, has endured years of excruciating eye pain, was declared legally blind and will likely lose her vision completely within the next three years.
Speaking to FEMAIL, the mother-of-three detailed her terrifying ordeal and the unexpected cause of her pain – out of date eye makeup.
‘It was the first time my daughters had invited me out, so naturally I was over the moon.
‘I bought a new outfit, took a trip to the hairdressers and decided to put on makeup for the first time in years,’ she said.
The mother and daughter trio had a ‘brilliant night’, enjoying just a few glasses of wine and each others company.
‘The next morning my husband Steve remarked how red my eyes looked,’ Ms Potter recalled.
‘I was born with a defect in my left eye, which meant I never had sight or feeling in it whatsoever. But the morning after our night on the town, I started to feel excruciating pain in both eyes – even then I knew something was seriously wrong.
Ms Potter went to her ophthalmologist who could find nothing wrong with her eyes.
‘Even though I was told they checked out fine, I could feel my sight deteriorating.
‘Months of pain went by, until one day I fell over a baby’s pram in our local shopping centre. I genuinely couldn’t see it, and my husband said we need to go back for more tests,’ she said.
After repeated visits to specialists, Ms Potter’s ophthalmologist eventually diagnosed a serious infection in both eyes.
‘He asked me directly if I’d been using old or out of date makeup. I told him I’d used makeup on our family night out which had been in the press for some time,’ she said, adding the makeup was around twenty years old.
The consultant looked alarmed and asked Ms Potter if she was aware of use by dates on cosmetic products.
‘I had never heard that makeup must be used within a certain period of opening the product, but after my consultation I went online and discovered you should throw out facial products after twelve months and eye makeup after six months.
‘As someone who doesn’t wear makeup regularly, it wasn’t on my radar,’ she said.
Ms Potter’s ophthalmologist prescribed a course of antibiotics, but the damage to her vision was already done.
‘I was recently declared legally blind, and right now I’m about to lose my driving licence – it’s a loss of independence.
‘Specialists advise me I will lose my eyesight completely within the next three years which is such a frightening prospect,’ she said.
Ms Potter went on to describe how she spent the past week in a darkened room due to the pain she experiences from light sensitivity.
‘Even at night, I struggle to go outside with the harsh brightness coming from traffic lights and cars,’ she explained, adding she now has light-related anxiety.
Asked what message she would give to people about the danger of using old beauty products, Ms Potter said to be vigilant about checking the use-by dates on your makeup, particularly eye cosmetics.
