Hey all! I might be unnecessarily paranoid right now, but I'm hoping some people might be able to assure me I'm ok. Basically, I had a very small
droplet (like VERY small) of 0.1N NaOH make it into my eye. I was wearing safety glasses but somehow it managed to precisely fly up and over the top
edge of my glasses and land in my eye. I didn't feel any burning on contact, but I rinsed my eyes out anyways and didn't really feel any discomfort
anyways besides the dryness of my eyes after rinsing it with water. It's been several hours and there's still been no burning. It's hard to tell if my
eyes are red, but it doesn't seem any more bloodshot than it was already from lack of sleep. Do you think I'm ok? Should 0.1N NaOH be dilute enough to
not cause much harm? If I don't feel any burning/irritation now, there shouldn't be any other issues that manifest themselves later at a delayed time,
right?
[Edited on 30-5-2019 by miki123]Sulaiman - 29-5-2019 at 17:05
I personally would not be too concerned.
Although some damage must in theory have occured,
the eye can easily heal such very minor damage.
(based only on personal experience)
Your prompt dilution would mean no on-going/future damage.
The fact that you typed such a long message implies that either your eyes are ok OR you are a robot.
It would be good to have an eye examination soon - to put your mind at ease
... or not. j_sum1 - 29-5-2019 at 17:25
Sounds like you managed that one well. Flushing with water was the appropriate action. A couple of things to consider
1. The eyes are surprisingly robust. And they heal quickly when damaged. The fact that you are experiencing no pain is a good indicator.
2. The quantities involved are small and the solution dilute. And you flushed quickly. the potential for actual damage is small.
3. Effects of NaOH tend to be acute rather than chronic. This is not something that is going to suddenly flare up later. You might experience a bit
of redness if the eye is performing a healing process. But other than that, the worst is past.
4. In comparison to other hazards that your eyes face on a day to day basis, the exposure you experienced is small. You have probably done more
damage in the past with sand in your eye or swimming in a pool or wiping your face with unclean hands. Yes, NaOH is a "chemical" but so is everything
else around us.
In short, I would not be at all concerned. But if symptoms do arise then see your doctor.
[edit:typo]
[Edited on 30-5-2019 by j_sum1]DavidJR - 30-5-2019 at 03:37
You'll probably be fine, but don't wear contact lenses for the next week or so.woelen - 4-6-2019 at 07:19
Also keep in mind that 0.1 M NaOH is very dilute. This is only appr. 0.4% by weight. No real issue. Combined with the prompt rinsing I see no problem
at all.DavidJR - 4-6-2019 at 09:28
Actually, I should probably add my own experience here. I did once splash myself in the eye with a drop of a caustic solution and ended up okay.
The solution was prepared by dissolving 10g of sodium borohydride in 25ml of 0.5M aqueous sodium hydroxide. However, the NaBH4 clumped and
I used a stirring rod to try and break it up - in doing this I somehow splashed a little bit right into my eye from underneath my glasses.
I immediately rinsed it out using one of the bottles of sterile saline that I keep on hand for this purpose. Afterwards, I didn't notice any real
signs of eye damage at all.
The reduction went very well too...
[Edited on 4-6-2019 by DavidJR]MrHomeScientist - 4-6-2019 at 10:24
Quote:
I was wearing safety glasses but somehow it managed to precisely fly up and over the top edge of my glasses and land in my eye.
This would not have happened if you were wearing chemistry safety goggles, not impact safety glasses. Chemistry goggles
cover all the way around your eyes, and can go over regular glasses if you have them. Safety glasses are meant for flying debris, and aren't suitable
for splashing liquids (as you now, hopefully, know). Get some chemical splash goggles (and wear them!) and this will never happen again. They're
cheap! Your eyes aren't!
Edit: BB Code is off for some reason? The "Turn BBCode off?" checkbox is not checked, but it still says off on the left sidebar.
