Doctors warn of rise in nail glue mistaken for eye drops

I've always had real bad allergies. Even worse when I was younger and it would usually leave me with dry eyes. When I was a teenager I mistook eardrops for eyedrops. I will never forget that pain. I always triple check before I put anything in my eyes.

I can't fathom this. I get there's exceptions like 'well what if you're exhausted' but honestly, never in my life would this happen to me. I know what saline I use, I know a bright red cap means don't use that, and I'd never store my eye drops anywhere near nail glue. Idk. Just seems pretty easily avoidable.

There is significant overlap between the smartest bears and the dumbest humans.

I'm pretty book smart. I'm a theoretical physicist. This could very easily happen to me. Luckily, I don't keep strong glue, so the only time it happened it was oily ear drops in my eyes that made my vision blurry for a little while.
- I've got a small tube of hydrocortisone cream. I've also got a small tube of toothpaste for travel use.
  
  Accidents have very nearly happened. If it wasn't for the minty smell it likely would have done by now. Especially when not wearing corrective eye-wear.
- I dunno, maybe I'm just very protective of my eyes. I always check expiration dates on eye drops, forget about not realizing IT'S GLUE.

thanks new fear unlocked

I once dropped ear drops in my eye.

They were thick.

Acetic Acid.

It wasn’t fun.

I once, in the dark, grabbed my wife's Estrace and started to brush my teeth with it. I don't recommend it.

Getting glue on your eyes is actually pretty horrifying to think about

Don't use the cap stick that's in the music store

Oof, I know many people will have an intuitive reaction of "how can you be so stupid" - but even without seeing issues, I can imagine myself on a bad day with ADHD active to mistake packaging like that, not noticing until it's too late. Add to that, that eye drops are of course often used because of sight issues, and mistaking it gets even easier. The packaging really should change with some regulations that make it harder to mix up.

Another reason why it is so great, that the US currently has the ability to create sane and helpful regulations, with institutions funded to design them and make sure they are followed, right? /s

I had one of those travel tubes of toothpaste once and accidentally brushed my teeth with hydrocortisone cream for a few seconds instead, was really gross (but not devestating). I sympathize.
- luckily hydrocortisone is somewhat safe for the mouth even. if it were chemicals like glue that would probably burn.

I'm just wondering why everyone seems to be putting their glue even remotely near their eye drops. If I had those two items I'd keep one in a very specific spot

This!!!! I cannot fathom how you could mistake the two to begin with, but why do you keep stuff for personal health anywhere near tools like that. Even if you don’t misuse it, eye drops need a clean environment too!

When I was a kid, like ~6 years old, I walked into my parent's room and saw a little bottle of eye drops on the night stand. I guess I was curious, but for some reason I decided to apply them to my eyes.

The bottle was harder to squeeze than I expected, but when a tiny drop finally came out I missed my eye and got it on the edge of my eyelid. Turns out it was superglue and not eye drops. Luckily, it was such as small amount that I was able to wash it off and pretend like it never happened.

I still don't know why some super glue bottles look so similar to eye drops.

In my 20s I dated a girl who kept eye drops on her end table at my place. I wore contacts, and needed eye drops. Thankfully I hated the anticipation of eye drops dropping onto my eye, and always did a pre-drip in my hand before holding it over my eye. Well wasn't I stunned when I wiped the eye drop off on my shirt, and my shirt was stuck to my hand. Maybe I got powers like Spider-Man! Nope, I almost put nail glue in my eye.

Why the hell did they start making nail glue bottles short and fat like eye drops? Why?!

I can't see the problem!

Oooh fingernail glue. I was picturing this stuff and wondering how that would get confused.

"liquid nails" project adhesive

I'd put that in my eyes
I'm a little too uncultured for this discussion. to me nail glue = superglue/cyanoacrylate
- Actual nail glue is like what you're talking about, made specifically for gluing on fake fingernails or eyelashes. It's just that I don't use that so the first thought for me was the stuff pictured because it has "nail" in the name.
it looks nothing like a visine bottle.

I know someone who did this in the moments immediately following waking up in the morning.

...it was difficult to look them in the eye after that.

Also, they're okay now, but yeah, it was a scary day for them.

You know, people who habitually put eye drops in their eyes, don't really take care of their eyes well.

This is JUST personal observation, but I know people who will be desperate for the stuff and just put anything anyone hands them into their eyes. They won't even glance at the label, just blind desperate trust. As someone who would be considered legally blind if glasses weren't a thing, it always seemed so fucking stupid behavior to me.

So honestly not very surprising to me. And to those that you use it habitually, have you gone to a doctor for that? Because being dependent on eye drops is definitely not normal or healthy I'm pretty sure?

Hey everyone, keep your eyes peeled for glue that looks like drops! It can be a real eye opening experience if you make that mistake.

For anyone as confused as me, the "nails" are fingernails, not the construction part.

This is one of my biggest anxieties as I always have both around. Sometimes I have to put in eye drops while legally blind. Though it does mean I quadruple check anything that goes in my eyes and know the eye drops containers well