When young mother Marnie Jay Marx took her son out of the bath she immediately noticed a large, red rash that took over the right side of her four year old’s face. “I thought he had been bitten by a spider or something, but no, it was just my poison kisses,” said Marx. It didn’t take long for her to realize that the culprit was not an insect bite, but was actually caused by the kisses she gave him while getting him ready for a bath. Marx says right before she kissed her son she had tried a lip plumper for the first time and didn’t realize how irritating the ingredients would be on skin.
Images/Marnie Jay Marx
After treating the rash with antihistamines, William’s skin returned to normal in about 30 minutes, but the concerned mom wanted to warn others of her innocent mistake. A few days later, Marx took to Facebook to share her scary incident with others. “Just a warning,” she wrote in a post on The MakeUp Social Facebook page, “I put a slick of this Too Faced Lip Injection on my lips and then about 10 minutes later I absentmindedly kissed my four year old on the cheek.”
Marx’s warning resonated with other makeup loving moms who were appreciative of the head’s up. We reached out to a few skin experts who echoed Marx’s warning to be careful who you kiss after applying any product with a plumping agent in it. “Some ingredients found in lip plumpers are cinnamon, ginger, mint and capsicum, which work to plump the lips by causing an irritant type reaction, increasing blood flow to the area leading to redness and swelling,” says New York dermatologist Sejal Shah, MD. “Some people often notice that their lips tingle or itch when they apply these products, indicating a reaction. So it’s not surprising that applying it to the skin caused this type of reaction.”
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New York dermatologist Lauren Levy, MD agrees: “Any topical medication can cause an irritant dermatitis or allergic dermatitis in the right individual. It is possible that one of the ingredients in the lipstick—a chemical, preservative or dye—irritated the child’s skin,” she says. “Proper treatment includes avoiding the product, cold compresses, antihistamines and a low strength topical steroid.”
Thankfully young William is fine and Marx says she’s done with lip plumpers all together. “It was the first time I’d even used a plumper, just a random grab at Mecca counter. This morning when I was getting ready for work I saw it and threw it in the bin and thought about how I was glad I hadn’t kissed him on the eye or on the lips,” she added. “I just felt I should warn other mothers like me who weren’t aware this could happen.”
