What Is The Duration of Irrigation When Applying First Aid Treatment for Chemical Burns to The Eyes?

In our daily lives, it is very possible for us to get into accidents. Little accidents can happen anywhere. For example, when you are in the middle of cooking at the kitchen, you use the knife to cut some vegetables, and accidentally scrape your finger.

If this thing happens, instinctively, you will rinse your finger and put a bandage around the injured finger. This is a very simple example of first aid treatment that is very practical to implement in our lives.

Another worst thing that can happen is chemical burns to the eyes. There are several things that can cause this. It can be caused by chemical splash or forgetting to wash your hands after handling chemicals and using the hands to rub your eyes. Both are the reasons for the contact between chemicals and your eyes.

There are symptoms of chemical burns to the eye. These symptoms are varied depending on the type of chemical and its degree of exposure. For mild cases, the injuries are temporary redness and irritation. But for a serious case, such as splashed by alkali chemicals, it can cause blindness. When it happens, you must seek medical attention as soon as possible.

As mentioned above, there are some mild cases that do not cause any serious injury. For this accident, you can give yourself some treatments first. The easiest thing you can do is to flush your eyes with water. Another thing you can do is treating the injured eye with eye irrigation.

First Aid Treatment For Chemical Burns To The Eyes

Flushing

There are two ways to flush your eyes

Rinse your eyes under a faucet or a shower. You must avoid showering your eyes under high-pressure water. Just open and close your eyelid using your fingers and when you open your eyes, move it to all directions so the water will rinse all area of your eyes. Do this for 15-30 minutes. When you go see the doctor, they will do the same thing because it is the easiest way to reduce the chemicals. Reducing chemicals means reducing the chance of serious injury.
Rinse your eyes using a dishpan full of water. You just need to put your face in the water and while doing that, open and close your eyelids. This is a good way to make sure that your injured eye is entirely cleaned by the water. Repeat this method for 15-30 minutes or until the hurting stops.

Eye Irrigation

When your eye contacts with irritants such as bleach and acid, a severe burn to the eye is the result. As a treatment for this particular accident, you have to prepare an eye-wash for your injured eyes first aid kit.

Make sure there is always an eye-wash specifically for irrigation in your house. This eye-wash is made of saline solution that will help you to clean and relieve your eyes from irritation and stinging. Drop the eye-wash to the injured eyes for 12-24 hours after the burn.

You can also make your own saline solution at home. You just need two ingredients, they are water and salt. First, boil a mixture of 250 milliliters of water and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Let it cools down once it is boiled. After it reaches the room temperature, pour the saline solution into a bottle and make sure the lid is properly installed. Before using the solution, always check its freshness first. Do not use it again when the color turns dirty or cloudy.

Further Treatment For Severe Burns

Just like treating mild burns, it is also important to treat severe burns with immediate help. But for severe burns, you need to seek medical treatment from the doctor. Remember that alkali chemicals, such as ammonia and oven cleaner, can cause serious damage.

While waiting for help from medics, you can do all of the above methods. Make sure that your hands are clean so you can give an effective first aid treatment for your injured eyes. You might also need to avoid direct contact with sunlight to reduce light sensitivity.