Chemical splash in the eye: First aid (2024)

FAQs

Chemical splash in the eye: First aid? ›

Hold your face under running water for 15 to 20 minutes and allow the water stream to flood into your eyes. Use your fingers to hold your eyelids apart (make sure there is no trace of the chemical on your fingers). If you wear contact lenses, remove them as soon as possible. Seek immediate medical advice.

Keep the affected person warm and at rest. Get medical attention as soon as possible. If a person breathes large amounts of this chemical, move the exposed person to fresh air at once. Other measures are usually unnecessary.

Flush your eye with water or a sterile saline solution. Gently pour the water or saline over the eyeball. Use a glass or small jug of water held against your eye. Refill the glass or jug to continue flushing for at least 15 minutes.

If poison splashes into an eye, hold the eyelid open and wash quickly and gently with clean running water from the tap or a gentle stream from a hose for at least 15 minutes. If possible, have someone else contact a Poison Control Center for you while the victim is being treated.

In most cases, prompt and thorough rinsing of the eye (with saline or fresh water) dramatically reduces the risk of injury and long-term damage. pH strips can be used to check if the irrigation has removed traces of the chemical.

Follow medical advice: The medical professionals will assess the damage caused by the bleach and provide appropriate treatment. They may prescribe eye drops or ointments to reduce inflammation and prevent infection. In severe cases, you may need to be hospitalized for further treatment.

Chemical Eye Burn Treatment

Avoid spraying a high-pressure water stream into the eye or eyes. Flush with lukewarm water for 15 to 30 minutes. For severe burns, which are commonly caused by household drain cleaner, continue flushing until you see a doctor or you arrive in an emergency room.

First Aid for Eyes and Chemical Exposure

If you suspect chemicals have entered your eye, begin flushing it immediately with cool water or an eye wash and continue to do so for a minimum of approximately 15 minutes. Seek immediate medical attention by dialing 911 or going to the nearest emergency room.

If the chemical is on your skin, wash it off straight away with a large amount of water. Keep putting water on for at least 20 minutes. Continue washing even after the chemical seems to have been removed. This helps to reduce damage to your tissues.

How long do you have to respond if your eye is splashed with a chemical? ›

Chemical burns to the eye:

Keep the eye under running water for at least 20 minutes. Make sure contaminated water does not splash the casualty or you.

Early reparative phase (8-20 days)

This is the transition period of ocular healing, in which the immediate regeneration of ocular surface epithelium and acute inflammatory events give way to chronic inflammation, stromal repair and scarring.

If you do get chemicals in your eyes, immediately go to an eyewash station and flush your eyes for at least 15 minutes. The importance of flushing for at least 15 minutes cannot be overstated!

Immediate copious irrigation remains the single most important therapy for treating chemical injuries. If available, the eye should be anesthetized prior to irrigation. Ideally, the eye should be irrigated with a sterile balanced buffered solution, such as normal saline solution or Ringer's lactate solution.

Clean the skin

Brush water-activated chemicals, such as lime, from the skin, instead of using water. Be careful not to brush particles into the eyes. If the chemical does not react with water, flush the affected skin with cool water for at least 15 minutes.

If the object is floating in the tear film on the surface of the eye, try using a medicine dropper filled with clean, warm water to flush it out. Or tilt the head back and irrigate the surface of the eye with clean water from a drinking glass or a gentle stream of tap water.

For a splash exposure to the nose, mouth, or skin, flush with water. If exposure occurs to the eyes, irrigate with clean water, saline, or sterile irrigant.

Early reparative phase (8-20 days)

This is the transition period of ocular healing, in which the immediate regeneration of ocular surface epithelium and acute inflammatory events give way to chronic inflammation, stromal repair and scarring. It is during this stage, corneal ulceration tends to occur.

Chemical burns to your eye can cause keratitis. Keratitis is an inflammation of the cornea. The cornea is the outer, clear layer that covers the coloured part of your eye and pupil. If you get chemicals in your eyes, it may take as long as 24 hours to know if there is damage.