Citation

Au SCL. Vis. J. Emerg. Med. 2020; 21: e100881.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.visj.2020.100881

PMID

32923696 PMCID

Abstract

A 32-year-old lady attended the emergency department for left eye pain after accidental splitting of alcohol-based hand rub gel into the left eye by herself. She was not on contact lens or goggles, and never had corneal or laser refractive surgery before. As a practice of hand hygiene under COVID-19, she was applying her pocket-sized instant hand sanitizer gel (Fig. 1) over her left hand after touching the public facilities. It was an alcohol-based gel with 70% denatured alcohol, phenoxyethanol, mixed with glycerin and melaleuca alternifolia leaf oil. Unluckily, the bottle was almost finished, and she was trying hard with her right hand to squeeze out the last bit when the gel suddenly ejected straight into her left eye. She experienced instant pain, and blurring of vision persisted despite repeated blinking. The pain was so intense few moments later that she could not even open her left eye or blink. She was accompanied by her colleague to attend the emergency department, but there was no self irrigation done before her arrival...

Language: en

Keywords

Coronavirus; Cornea; Eye burns; Hand hygiene; Hand sanitizers; Ophthalmology