Face paint, glitter and party poppers: keeping a child's eyes safe at parties
Halloween, Deepavali, year-end parties and Chinese New Year all bring colour to a child's face. What to do when glitter gets in an eye, how to use face paint sensibly, and when a party eye needs a doctor.
- If glitter gets in an eye, do not rub. Blink several times, let tears flush it, and use saline or eyewash if it stays.
- The American Academy of Ophthalmology says glitter eye makeup is a common cause of corneal irritation or infection, so keep glitter away from the lids and lash line.
- Never share eye makeup, even with family, and throw it away after three months. One pot and one brush for a whole party is the sharing to avoid.
- Published research on hand-held party poppers is limited. The closest evidence, on confetti cannons, describes bystanders with severe eye injuries, so never point anything that pops at a face.
- Redness, swelling, discharge, pain, blur, or a feeling that something is still in the eye means an eye check the same day. Published Malaysian figures for these injuries are limited.
Party season in Malaysia is long. There is Halloween at the end of October, Deepavali in November, the year-end concerts and birthday parties, and Chinese New Year in February 2027. A child comes home from each of them with something on their face, in their hair, or in their eyes.
Most of it is harmless. This article is about the small part that is not: glitter and face paint that get into the eye, and the popping and spraying toys that send something small and fast towards a face. It will tell you what to do first, and which signs mean an eye check the same day. Published Malaysian figures for these injuries are limited, so the reports I cite come from other countries.
What do I do if glitter gets in my child's eye?
Stop your child rubbing, and let the tears do the first job. The American Academy of Ophthalmology advises, for a particle in the eye, not to rub the eye, to blink several times and to allow tears to flush the particle out. If it is still there, an eyewash or saline (sterile salty water) can help rinse it.
Rubbing is the harmful part. A glitter flake is a tiny hard-edged piece, and a small hand grinding it across the cornea (the clear front window of the eye) can scratch it. A scratch of that kind is called a corneal abrasion. It makes the eye red, watery and sore.
Do not dig at it, and do not pull at anything that seems to be stuck in the eye. The academy is clear that an object stuck in the eye is not to be removed at home. Go to be seen.
Is glitter safe for children near the eyes?
Not really. The American Academy of Ophthalmology says that glitter eye makeup is a common cause of corneal irritation or infection, especially for people who wear contact lenses, and that flakes can fall into the eye, enter the tear film (the thin layer of moisture over the eye) and irritate it. Children do not wear contact lenses in most cases, but they do rub their eyes.
Children's glitter guidance from eye societies is limited, so I will not invent a rule about which type is acceptable. What the academy's advice supports is simple: keep glitter away from the lids and the lash line, use it on cheeks or hair and not around the eyes, and take it off before sleep.
A child of four who is told to keep their eyes closed while glitter goes on will still open them to see.
Can face paint hurt a child's eyes?
It can, mostly through what happens after it is applied. Eye society guidance written for children's face paint is limited, so I am using the academy's general guidance on cosmetics around the eyes. It says that infection-causing bacteria grow easily in creamy or liquid eye makeup, that eye makeup should be thrown out after three months, and that it should never be shared, even with family or close friends.
At a party, that last point is the one that gets broken. One pot, one brush and ten children is exactly the sharing the academy warns about. If a child gets pink eye (conjunctivitis, red sticky eyes), the academy says to throw away the eye makeup, and not to use any until the infection is gone. I have written about the ordinary kind in pink eye in children.
Some practical points follow from that, though they are ordinary common sense and not a citation. Ask for paint to stop short of the eyelids. Do not let paint go on the inside edge of the lid. Wash it off with your own clean cloth at the end of the day, and keep a child's own face paint for that child.
If paint gets into the eye and stings, treat it as a splash and rinse with clean water. The steps are in the first sixty seconds of a chemical splash.
What about party poppers, confetti and streamers?
Nobody can put a number on hand-held party poppers, because published studies of them are limited, but pointing anything that pops at a face is still worth avoiding. The closest evidence is for confetti cannons, which fire confetti from a tube. It is about that device, not about poppers.
A report from an Israeli medical centre described six patients hurt by confetti cannons between 2016 and 2020, five of them bystanders near a cannon that someone else was firing at a private celebration. The injuries were scratches on the cornea, bleeding in the front of the eye (hyphaema), and swelling of the retina. Two needed eye surgery, and the authors concluded that these devices can cause severe eye injury and permanent loss of vision. A German report of two cases showed that confetti particles that have been accelerated hard can pass through the white wall of the eye.
These are rare events, and a paper streamer is not a confetti cannon. But the principle is the same as for the darts and pellets in eye safety at home: something small is thrown at speed to a face. The American Academy of Ophthalmology's advice for children is to skip toys with dangerous flying pieces.
A good family rule is to point anything that pops or sprays away from faces, upwards or at the floor, and never at a person, and to hold it at arm's length so a child stands behind the person firing it.
What about masks, costume props and coloured contact lenses?
A mask that blocks a child's side vision is a fall waiting to happen, and a hard prop swung near a face is a poke to the eye. The academy guidance on masks is limited, so this is ordinary caution, not a citation. Choose eyeholes that leave a child able to see left and right, and keep swords, wands and sticks pointed down.
Coloured or costume contact lenses are different, because the academy's Halloween page is clear about them: lenses bought without a prescription can severely damage the eyes, "one size fits all" or "no need to see an eye doctor" is not safe, and eye infections can become serious very quickly, with damage that is sometimes not reversible. I cover the older-child version of this in coloured contact lenses bought online.
The academy lists redness, swelling, excessive discharge, pain or discomfort as signs of an eye infection that needs immediate care. That list is a good one for any painted, glittered or costumed eye, too.
When does a party eye need a doctor today, and when can it wait?
Go the same day if the discomfort does not settle after rinsing and blinking, if your child keeps saying it feels like something is still in the eye, or if you see redness, swelling, discharge or pain. The academy says to see an ophthalmologist or other doctor right away if an eye injury happens, since you may not be able to tell if the injury is serious.
Go the same day too if vision looks blurred, if something is stuck in the eye, or if blood is visible in the front of it. Do not wait until the morning after a party because it was late. A scratch on the cornea can be treated, and it hurts until it is.
What can wait is a single sting that clears within a minute or two of blinking, with an eye that looks white, opens easily and does not hurt. Watch it through the evening, and if the eye is red the next day, that is the day to book the check.
Then go back to the party. A face full of colour is a good way to spend an afternoon, and it takes only a few habits to keep the eyes out of it.
- Discomfort or a scratchy feeling does not settle after blinking and rinsing.
- The eye is red, swollen, discharging or painful.
- Vision looks blurred or has changed.
- Something is stuck in the eye, or there is blood visible in the front of it. Do not pull anything out.
- A popper, confetti cannon or toy has hit the eye directly, even if it looks fine.
Common questions
What should I do if glitter gets in my child's eye?
How do I get glitter out of a baby's or toddler's eye?
Is it safe to put glitter on a child's face?
Can face paint hurt my child's eyes?
Are party poppers dangerous for children's eyes?
Is it fine to share eye makeup with my child at a party?
When does my child's eye need a doctor after a party?
- American Academy of Ophthalmology · How to use cosmetics safely around your eyes · www.aao.org
- American Academy of Ophthalmology · Halloween and cosplay eye safety (colored contacts) · www.aao.org
- American Academy of Ophthalmology · Children's eye injuries, prevention and care · www.aao.org
- American Academy of Ophthalmology · Recognizing and treating eye injuries · www.aao.org
- Israel Medical Association Journal 2021 · Ocular trauma caused by confetti cannons (Ben Ishai et al.) · pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Der Ophthalmologe 2018 · Eyeball trauma caused by confetti particles (Arad et al.) · pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov