What's the best thing to wash your eyes out with?

vmp

Say you get something in your eye, and you need to irrigate it urgently, what's the best thing to wash your eye out with?


Ideally something with the minimum ingredients possible and least likely to irritate your eye?


What do you use?

Torry_Quine

cooled, previously boiled water

jenniewb

Saline solution. Normally found with contact lens products (make sure you get a neutral sterile saline type and not a cleaning fluid!).
I know it's obvious but don't drop anything from a bottle into your eye, 1. Because it will increase the chance of you dropping the bottle in to your eye and causing harm and 2. Because it increases the chance of contamination of the bottle and thus meaning you have to throw the whole load away.
Saline generally keeps for a short while, it will say how long on the bottle.


Having said that; if the eye irritation is caused by an allergy or infection, it would be wise to treat that first rather than just the symptoms of the irritation, there are various products that can do this which range from pills to eye baths and can be bought OTC in places like Boots, Superdrug and sometimes larger supermarkets, but speak to a pharmacist first if you can.

tidus

In the event of emergency, for example chemicals or acids, you stick your eye under the nearest tap. Don't faff about with anything else.

Its worth pointing out that the eye is self cleaning and in most cases will quite cheerfully flush itself out, its what your tears are for.

goggle

tap water - it's easily accessible in an emergency

If you are planning to need to irrigate the eye, a saline solution or proprietary eye wash - but in an emergency you don't have time to boil water & wait for it to cool & tap water is just fine!

Katiehound

Can I just point out it need to be tap water from the mains- not from the water tank in the loft! Who knows what nasties lurk in there!
Kitchen tap fine- bathroom tap?- maybe- depends on your plumbing system.

Cooled black tea is said to be soothing. Haven't used it personally

PasturesNew

Don't use water if it's lime you've splashed in your eye. I think that needs milk.

pendragon_arther

Optrex works for me or for something a bit stronger Broline.

System

My daughter was advised by the hospital to use baby shampoo to wash her eyes with.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

I personally wouldn't recommend tap water. As others have said saline or an optrex eye bath. Although it depends what's causing eye problems in the first place.

As for baby shampoo, this is recommended for people who suffer with blephritis. A condition which, in simple terms, affects the eyelashes. Even so, it's got to be very diluted. I wouldn't wash my eye out with it.

I'm very protective of my eyes, so am always very very careful when it comes to any eye problem.

DigForVictory

My lab buddies have official sealed irrigation bottles, practice with them & use them. 90% of the time though a spill means full decontam & that sounds like a power shower of lukewarm distilled water. Acid, alkali - seemingly the only thing they don't shove colleagues into decontam for is a group one metal (that explodes on contact with water). Their view is if your eye is still bad after 20 minutes irrigation, then they phone the eye hospital for an emergency admission.

Me, I have a handful of 20ml sterile wash pods for largely desk based colleagues (& the chilli enthusiast will stick her own head under the tap with very little steering). The pods have a use by date but so far if folk want a pod, they are really not fussed about the date...