Eye-Irritation Test

An eye-irritation test rules out the possibility of any damage that your eyes might undergo following accidental exposure to a cosmetic or skincare product. Some cosmetic or skincare products contain irritants that penetrate the corneal tissue and cause cell damage. This can lead to corneal opacity, iritis, conjunctival redness, conjunctival chemosis, and more.
We test our formulations on Human Corneal Epithelial cell lines to check their eye-irritation effect.

What Are Corneal Epithelial Cells & Why We Use Them?

Corneal epithelial cell lines are cells isolated and cultured from the surface of the human cornea. These cells can be grown in a laboratory setting and can be used to study corneal biology, develop new treatments for corneal infections and injuries, and test the safety and efficacy of products that come into contact with the cornea.
In simple words, our products will act on these cell lines in a similar manner as they will on your eye!

How We Test The Eye-Irritation Effect Of Our Products?

Step 1

Inducing Irritation In The Cells

The first step involves inducing irritation in the corneal epithelial cells by exposing them to Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). SDS is an anionic detergent that acts as an irritantand rapidly disrupts the cell membrane, stopping various cell functions that keep it alive.

Step 2

Testing The Product

The next step involves introducing the test product & a cell media containing essential growth factors to another set of human corneal epithelial cells. With exposure to the test product,the cells may or may not undergo similar events that occur in the first step. We’ll confirm that by tracking the cell viability of the cells in both cases.

Step 3

Tracking Cell Viability Post-treatment

Cell viability refers to the number of healthy and live cells in a particular sample. Healthy and viable cells with an active metabolic function turn the yellow dye to purple. On the contrary, the dead cells will not take up any stain, helping us to differentiate between the two. Ideally, the cell viability in the case of the test product should be way higher than SDS.

What's The Final Result?

For a product to be considered non-irritant to the eyes, the cell viability post-treatment with the test product should be ≥ 70%. At Areoveda, all tested products reflect the same results!