One of the most convenient ways to protect your children from the coronavirus has caused eye damage for some.
At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the public was told — among other things — how important it is to the keep their hands clean and to not touch their face.
Parents can wash their kids’ hands when soap and water are available, but often must use hand sanitizer to kill the coronavirus on their wee ones.
Stopping children from touching their faces, however, can prove more difficult, and some kids have suffered eye damage because of it.
In a national review from April 1 to August 24, 2020, the French Poison Control Centers found a sevenfold increase of eye damage in children caused by alcohol-based hand sanitizer, compared with 2019. Also, a pediatric ophthalmology center reported 13% of patients required surgery for severe lesions.
During the study time, 16 children were admitted to a children’s ophthalmology hospital in Paris after getting hand sanitizer in their eyes, compared with only one in 2019. Two cases required surgery to replace damaged cornea tissue.
But rubbing their eyes isn’t the only way sanitizer is getting in, according to the review, which was published last week in JAMA Ophthamology.
All of the children who were hospitalied were younger than 4 years, and the researchers determined this was because sanitizer dispensers are usually 3 feet tall, which is eye level for small children.
“Children are naturally curious and great mimics. We have seen in the recent past unintended adverse consequences for young children with new products, such as laundry detergent pods, which are appealing to children and can cause eye injury,” Dr. Kathryn Colby, of the Grossman School of Medicine at New York University, wrote in an accompanying commentary. “With the current widespread use of hand sanitizer in public places, it is not unexpected that young children would be drawn to these dispensers, many of which appear to be inadvertently designed to facilitate contact between the hand sanitizer and young eyes.”
Colby emphasized the need for public signage and education regarding children and hand sanitizer. In addition to isolating automated dispensers from children, she wrote, “signage alerting people to the potential danger of contact with eyes should be posted. In an emergency, any clean liquid can be used to irrigate the eye following chemical exposure, and wording to this effect can be considered as part of a warning sign.”
If you suspect your child has gotten alcohol-based hand sanitizer in their eyes, she continued, it’s very important to seek medical care to prevent any longterm damage.
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