Over the years I have heard a version of this story at least five times. Someone (never the teller of the story) keeps their Krazy glue right next to their eye drops - whether in the medicine cabinet or on their nightstand - and they grab the wrong one. Hilarity (and, presumably, a trip to the ER) ensues.
Has this ever happened to you or anyone that you know? Do folks regularly keep caustic adhesives next to their medical supplies? How come no one ever reports mistakenly trying to mend their broken teacup with Visine?
If this is really a thing that happens, what are the damages? If not (as I suspect) why do so many people repeat this story?
This study describes a man mistaking the superglue tube for ointment and applying it to his grandaughter.
Here’s a story about a woman who kept glue in her handbag for repairing broken nails and mistook it for her eye drops.
So it does happen.
As to your question about damages, the study in my first link has this to say:
Fifty three cases of superglue injuries of the eyes have been published in the literature in the past thirty years. The most common clinical presentation was sticking of eyelids/eyelashes and inability to open the eye. The most common signs were tarsorrhaphy like appearance of the eyelids, conjunctival and corneal abrasion. The management included irrigation of the eye, trimming of eyelashes to remove the superglue attached to the lid margins and removal of the glue with forceps from the conjunctiva and cornea. The corneal abrasion was treated with topical antibiotics, mydriatics/cycloplegics and eye patching. In some cases conservative management was given i.e. antibiotic eye drops and allowing the glue to fall off by itself over a period of few days (Table 1). No serious ocular morbidity has been reported due to superglue injury. The age of patients varied from 3 months to 64 years and 25% of them were children.
If you follow the link to the referenced “Table 1,” you can see a number of cases, each describing the injuries and methods of treatment.
Well, thanks, Johnny B.! I was sure it’s an urban legend and was mostly expecting people to debunk it. I wasn’t even taking children into account (I’ve never had anyone tell me that version).
We humans do a lot of stupid shit when we’re tired, distracted, or under the influence.
What’s neat is how little damage the glue actually does. Basically a result of the eyeball working exactly as intended and pushing the irritant out of the most sensitive area.
I would have guessed the same. Mainly because I don’t think an eyedrop bottle and a super glue bottle/tube look the same at all (and often the glue is in a metal squeeze tube like a tiny toothpaste) but maybe that’s just the brands I buy.
I’ve been given eye ointment in the exact same type of tube. Here’s an image from a different study. (warning: contains a mildly grody picture of a glued-up eyeball)
I was recently putting eye drops in my sore and gritty eyes when I suddenly had the thought that the super glue that I use comes in a really similar bottle. My eyesight is pretty poor, and obviously my glasses were off, so I couldn’t really see the bottle that I was using. However, there was absolutely zero chance that the drops falling into my eyes were anything other than eyedrops. I don’t have a bottle of that super glue and had used the eye drops the previous day. Despite this I felt an instant, powerful rush of awful panic. It was an intriguing experience.
The worst personal anecdotes I can offer are the time I spritzed my eye closed (shut up–it was the 80s!) with my sister’s hair spritz and the time I put ear drops into my eye.
I imagine the occasions mentioned in the OP are urban legends. The examples given later in the thread indicate that life really does imitate art to a frightening degree. I can see befuddled grandfather grabs the wrong tube or harried woman reaches into her purse and doesn’t check examples happening with startling frequency.
One of my dogs is having a struggle with keratoconjunctivitis, for which he has two medications. Both of which are tiny 3gm tubes and both of which look for all the world exactly like superglue. Honestly the main way I can be sure they’re the right thing, assuming I kept superglue around on the regular, which I don’t, is by smell. Cyanoacrylate has a distinctive odor, whereas the Optimmune and antibiotic ointment don’t smell like anything.
I remember hearing a story eons ago about someone confusing Ben Gay with toothpaste, and I always wondered if it was an urban legend. Anyone hear that one?
Perhaps I’m biased by my personal experience of tubes, but looking at those two images -
(1) I’m shocked that they would put the eye ointment in a small squeeze tube that I associate with superglue;
(2) I’m shocked that they would put the glue in the type of small rigid plastic container with the distinctive lid shape that I associate with eye (or maybe ear) drops.
My sister once sprayed her underarms with gentian violet veterinary spray ointment which was the same size as her antiperspirant.The cool thing was that she was looking in the mirror at the time and she manage to get both armpits before she noticed. The scream became a family legend.
