The good news: Most of the cases were relatively mild, meaning eye pain, tingling, or acute inflammation, swelling, and / or discoloration (“conjunctival hyperemia”).
The bad news: six “moderate” cases involved limited “keratitis,” an inflammatory disease that affects the cornea. Several children had severe corneal lesions.
And while none of the cases in 2019 concerned public exposure to hand sanitizer, there were 63 cases in 2020, mostly in French shopping malls.
Public exposure has also occurred in restaurants, cinemas, open public spaces, sports arenas and swimming pools through contact with an automatic or foot operated dispenser.
In France (as in the United States), the availability of public donors skyrocketed in the wake of the pandemic. And in France, according to the study, pediatric eye injuries seemed to be increasing at the same time.
This is likely because public donors are typically about 3 feet tall – eye level, for a young child, Martin and his team found.
For this reason, Yangzes made a recommendation: “Lower the height of the alcohol dispenser so that the fill level is under the eyes of the children [and] Face, “she urged. As a precaution, a warning label should be placed next to the donors, she added.
AAO’s Tuli noted that disinfectant-related injuries can occur even after the alcohol has not evaporated and a child is rubbing their eyes.
“Usually, the blink reflex prevents us from getting a lot of disinfectant into the eye and tearing it down,” she said. “So we see irritation in the eye similar to shampoo.”
But if more than a tiny amount of disinfectant reaches the eye, it can do more damage, according to Tuli.
“It can cause corneal abrasions, which can damage the epithelium of the cornea or conjunctiva, much like a scratch on the eye from a fingernail injury. It can be very painful, but fortunately it heals quickly,” said Tuli. “If a large amount gets into the eye, it can lead to larger defects that may require more surgery to heal.”
Since hand disinfectants are sterile, infections or permanent damage are rare.
More information
You can learn more about how to use hand sanitiser safely at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
SOURCES: Dr. med. Sonal Tuli, clinical spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology; Sonam Yangzes, MBBS, MS, DNB, Consultant, Lens, Corneal, and Refraction Services, Grewal Eye Institute, Chandigarh, India; JAMA Ophthalmology, January 21, 2021, online
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