Cosmetologist cited after chemically burning woman’s eye with extensions

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    Omaha, NE (WOWT) — What should have been a self-care indulgence turned into a cosmetology nightmare. An Omaha woman tells us she lost her vision in one eye after a botched eyelash extension job.

Jennifer Henning’s doctor says she has a chemical burn to the eye after a cosmetologist glued her eye closed.

“I was like oh this isn’t good I’ve never had this happen before what’s going on,” said Henning.

She went to Brow and Lash Beauty at 108th and Maple, wanting to try somewhere new for her regular eyelash extensions. Now she regrets it.

“It was burning so bad I’ve never had burning like that before on my eyes or face,” said Henning.

In Nebraska and Iowa, you are required to have a cosmetology or aesthetician license to give eyelash extensions. Brow and Lash do not have a license.

The manager tells me that’s because they don’t perform any work that requires one and the woman who did it was only using his space and not an employee – so he can’t speak for the woman who did the job.

But you can see here on the business card Brow & Lash does in fact market the service.

Hennings tells me she asked before the appointment if the woman was licensed.

“I called back and I specifically asked are you guys licensed to do eyelash extensions and they said yes,” said Henning.

Henning happened to have a friend, who is a licensed cosmetologist, waiting for her in the parking lot. She called her mid appointment for help when she realized what was happening.

“I said we need to go. We either need to take you to the ER or we need to call somebody who knows what they’re doing to get your eye open,” said her friend, Emily Cuenca.

Emily Cuenca rushed her to fellow cosmetologist Korbyn Fox who was able to get her eye open and remove fake lashes which Fox says are not professional extensions.

“I have seen some bad lashes but I’ve never seen anything like that,” said Fox.

Henning says when she went to the doctor the next day, she was told residual glue stuck to her eye would eventually come off – but time will determine how much vision she will recover.

Henning is now warning others not to take someone at their word, look licenses up online before getting any services done.

The cosmetologist that did the service was cited for criminal impersonation.

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