Dry Eye Diva Mobilizes Congress With Clear Message: Beauty Should Not Hurt

Dry Eye Diva descended upon The Hill, marking Dry Eye Awareness Month with a clear-eyed message: Beauty Should Not Hurt.

Attending a briefing at the Rayburn Building at the invitation of the Alliance For Eye And Vision Research, Dry Eye Diva and TFOS co-founder Amy Gallant Sullivan urged Congressional and industry leaders to pay greater attention and resources to the worldwide epidemic known as Dry Eye Disease. Accompanied by a bevy of eye docs and experts in Ophthalmology research, Sullivan touched on a myriad of eye health concerns, at one point raising her iPhone to ask audience: "What do an iPhone and a tube of mascara have in common? They both promote dry eye disease," she answered after a pause. Dry Eye Diva and optometrist Dr. Leslie O'Dell furthered with an eye-opening clinical presentation conveying how cosmetics usage can exacerbate or cause dry eye disease: “We know that they contain carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, and neurotoxins but we need more information about these chemicals we are exposing ourselves to every day and how they contribute to dry eye disease.”

This visit comes on the heels of a high profile one in April by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which partnered with celebrity-turned-activist Kourtney Kardashian to tout their newly-launched campaign #BeautyMadeBetter to support better cosmetics safety regulations.

Dry Eye Diva helps expose the toxic truth behind your favorite beauty products while giving tips for your safest, boldest beauty.

Mainstream beauty products are known to exacerbate dry eye symptoms. Dry eye disease affects more than 30 million people in the United States alone and is twice as common in women as in men, “which makes this a women’s health issue,” said Dr. Janine Austin-Clayton, director, Office of Research on Women’s Health at the National Institutes of Health. If ignored or left untreated, it can lead to serious complications—even blindness.

Storming The Hill! Dry Eye Diva takes its safe beauty message to Congress to highlight Dry Eye Awareness Month.

Left to right: Amy Gallant Sullivan, Janine Clayton, MD, Assoc. Dir, NIH Research on Women’s Health, Leslie O'Dell, OD

Bottom line: 80 Years Later... Cosmetics chemicals remain unregulated in the U.S., but clean beauty movements continue to gain traction, thanks to efforts by activists, beauty bloggers, brands, celebrities and advocacy groups like TFOS and EWG.

Scientific Article: Suffering For Beauty