10-18-2010, 05:36 PM
Irmgard Holm made a mistake that sounds crazy but actually happens to some patients who have undergone cataract surgery. The Phoenix woman reached for her eye drops but instead grabbed a similar-looking bottle and put Super Glue in her eye. The burning sensation that followed let her know that something was very wrong.
"The bottles are identical and I am not young anymore, but I am not senile," Holm told myfoxphoenix.com.
Holm tried washing her eye but soon her eyelid was sealed shut. Paramedics and hospital staff had to cut away the glue substance. "I couldn't even see," she said.
This type of mix-up sometimes happens, and according to myfoxphoenix.com, cases of "ocular injuries" from Super and other types of glue date back to 1982. Holm is hoping the Food and Drug Administration will put pressure on glue makers to change the size and shapes of their bottles.
Dr. Thomas Stokkermans, an ophthalmologist at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, has treated patients who have gotten glue in their eyes.
"The Super Glue only bonds to dry surfaces so just the interior margin of the eyelid and the eyelashes are usually glued shut," he told AOL Health. "With the patient I treated, I just cut the eyelashes and that was enough. The Super Glue causes a chemical burn but does not bond to the eye. Mostly the eye is glued shut because the eyelashes are stuck together."
Stokkermans says that while gluing your eye shut is uncomfortable, there are usually no lasting effects.
"You might lose your eyelashes, but they can grow back. The skin can be irritated. Chemical burns on the cornea can be treated with antibiotics."
"It's not only Super Glue but also things like nail glue that this happens with," Stokkermans continued. "After cataract surgery there are three different drops that are prescribed. They come in round bottles with screw-off caps. But some bottles are more flat, like the bottle for Vigamox, a common antibiotic.
"So with all the different shapes and markings on these bottles, there are lots of potential combinations," he said. "There was an article in a British journal that showed that out of 14 people who came to the hospital with glue in their eye, only two of them did it because of confusing the bottles. The other people inadvertently had glue squirted in their eyes. So overall the problem is not necessarily from getting the bottles confused."
"The bottles are identical and I am not young anymore, but I am not senile," Holm told myfoxphoenix.com.
Holm tried washing her eye but soon her eyelid was sealed shut. Paramedics and hospital staff had to cut away the glue substance. "I couldn't even see," she said.
This type of mix-up sometimes happens, and according to myfoxphoenix.com, cases of "ocular injuries" from Super and other types of glue date back to 1982. Holm is hoping the Food and Drug Administration will put pressure on glue makers to change the size and shapes of their bottles.
Dr. Thomas Stokkermans, an ophthalmologist at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, has treated patients who have gotten glue in their eyes.
"The Super Glue only bonds to dry surfaces so just the interior margin of the eyelid and the eyelashes are usually glued shut," he told AOL Health. "With the patient I treated, I just cut the eyelashes and that was enough. The Super Glue causes a chemical burn but does not bond to the eye. Mostly the eye is glued shut because the eyelashes are stuck together."
Stokkermans says that while gluing your eye shut is uncomfortable, there are usually no lasting effects.
"You might lose your eyelashes, but they can grow back. The skin can be irritated. Chemical burns on the cornea can be treated with antibiotics."
"It's not only Super Glue but also things like nail glue that this happens with," Stokkermans continued. "After cataract surgery there are three different drops that are prescribed. They come in round bottles with screw-off caps. But some bottles are more flat, like the bottle for Vigamox, a common antibiotic.
"So with all the different shapes and markings on these bottles, there are lots of potential combinations," he said. "There was an article in a British journal that showed that out of 14 people who came to the hospital with glue in their eye, only two of them did it because of confusing the bottles. The other people inadvertently had glue squirted in their eyes. So overall the problem is not necessarily from getting the bottles confused."