I assume that many of you received – or bought for loved ones – some sort of beauty products this Christmas. An estimated 25% of US consumers were predicted to buy cosmetics or perfume as gifts in Christmas 2025, and around 18% of UK consumers said they would be buying health & beauty products for their loved ones over that same holiday period.
Ophthalmologists, of course, are generally taught to advise patients with dry or sensitive eyes that it’s best to avoid these kinds of products. This can be good advice, based on minimizing any further eye health risks in this type of patient cohort. But in an article for The Ophthalmologist, Jacqueline Beltz, President of the Australasian Society for Cataract and Refractive Surgeons and a Cataract and Refractive Surgeon in Melbourne, Australia, takes a different view.
“It is sensible advice from a medical standpoint, but it never sat well with me,” Beltz writes on the anti-cosmetic stance taken by some in the ophthalmology community. She adds, “Let's be honest: most ophthalmologists are men, and for many, cosmetics have never been part of their personal experience.”
It’s a valid point, and Beltz follows up with the observation that, “as eye care professionals, when we dismiss the significance of cosmetics, we risk alienating the very individuals we strive to help.” This dilemma led Beltz to create her own line of irritant-free beauty products that are “easier on the eye” and allow those who’ve previously been told to forego cosmetics to use make-up that doesn't risk harming their ocular health.
Similarly, last year we featured a sponsored article for the brand Eyes Are The Story, “the world’s first line of optocosmetics.” Amy Gallant Sullivan, the brand’s founder, explained how optocosmetics, “unlike conventional products adapted for sensitive eyes as an afterthought,” were “conceived from the outset with ocular surface disease science,” with each formulation “grounded in evidence-based research and engineered with eye health as its priority, establishing a new benchmark for safety and responsibility in beauty.”
With these offerings cropping up more frequently in 2026, this rising interest in cosmetic products that are less harmful to the eyes suggests it is more than just a passing trend. It will be interesting to see how companies like Eyes Are The Story and Beltz’s brand, OKKIYO, continue to develop beauty and makeup products for these more vulnerable patients. It might reach the point where general advice for dry eye patients is not so much “avoid cosmetics altogether,” but rather, “take a deeper look at those companies marketing ‘hypoallergenic’ products, and spend some time searching for cosmetics that genuinely are fragrance-free and ophthalmologist-tested.”
