Glue in the eye: superglue, nail glue and the eye-drop mix-up, and what to do first
Glue bottles and eye-drop bottles can look alike, and toddlers squeeze tubes. Here is what to do in the first minutes, what the eye doctor does next, and what the sources say about recovery.
- Do not force the eyelids apart and do not pull at glued lashes. The poison centre advice is: "Do not force the eye open."
- If the eye is open, rinse it gently with lukewarm water or saline. If the lids are stuck, keep the eye closed and cover it with a warm, wet compress.
- Never use acetone, nail polish remover, alcohol or any solvent near the eye.
- See an eye doctor the same day. The doctor checks the cornea, removes the glue, may trim stuck lashes and treats a scratch with antibiotic ointment.
- In the published cases the outcomes were good, but they are cases, not a promise. Keep glue away from the bedside and from eye-drop bottles, and read every label.
A small bottle of glue and a small bottle of eye drops can look alike on a crowded shelf, and a toddler's squeeze can reach the face before anyone sees it. This page is the plain first-aid version: what to do in the first minutes, what the eye doctor does next, and what the sources say about recovery.
What happens when superglue or nail glue gets in the eye?
Superglue and many nail glues are cyanoacrylate glues. They set within seconds when they meet moisture, and the eye is wet. The glue can bond the lashes together, stick the eyelids to each other or to the eyeball, and leave a hard film on the surface.
The American poison centres' information service (poison.org) notes that "polymerization occurs more quickly upon exposure to water." A case report from Oman adds a reassuring detail: the glue "does not seem to cause any significant mechanical, chemical, thermal or toxic injury to the ocular structures" when it is dealt with gently. The harm that does happen is mostly to the clear front window of the eye (the cornea). A hardened edge of glue can scrape it, which doctors call a corneal abrasion. The same poison page lists the complications of glue in the eye as "irritation, pain, loss of eyelashes, inflammation of the conjunctiva and corneal abrasions".
The action: if the eyelids are stuck, stay calm, because nothing here needs to be done in a rush with force. Gentle steps, then an eye doctor.
How does glue end up in an eye?
The sources describe three groups. A BMJ Case Reports paper on glue injuries names "poorly sighted individuals confusing glue for prescribed drops, careless sighted people mistaking it for over-the-counter eye drops, and unsupervised children". The bottles in those reports had "similarities in size, shape and opening mechanism". The American Academy of Ophthalmology tells the story of a man who took a small bottle of fingernail glue for the eye drops he had been prescribed after eye surgery.
That is worth a quiet word to the whole family. A grandparent with poor near vision, a tired parent at night and a toddler holding a tube are all in the same story. Nail glue for false nails, craft glue and model glue come in small bottles, and a splash can also happen during a craft session or a nail job.
The action: look at where the glue is kept. If it sits beside the drops, getting eye drops into a small human already covers reading the label before every dose, and the prevention section below says the rest.
What should I do first if glue goes in the eye?
These are the steps from the poison centres and the eye literature, in order.
1. Do not force the eyelids apart. The poison.org page says: "Do not force the eye open." Pulling can tear the skin or the surface of the eye.
2. Do not pull at the lashes. If lashes are glued together, leave them for the doctor, who may trim them.
3. If the eye is open, rinse it gently. The Ontario Poison Centre says: "If superglue gets in the eye and eyelids are not stuck together, rinse with lukewarm water." Clean water from the tap or a bottle works. The poison.org page suggests rinsing for 15 minutes. Saline from the first-aid kit is fine too.
4. If the lids are stuck, keep the eye closed. The Ontario Poison Centre says: "Apply warm compress over the eye and call the Poison Centre for further advice." Hold a clean, warm, wet cloth over the closed eye and, if you have one, a pad or gauze to cover it loosely.
5. Never use acetone or solvents. The same centre says: "If eyelids are stuck together, do not use alcohol, acetone or any other chemical near the eye." Nail polish remover is acetone. It will hurt the eye.
6. Go to an eye doctor or an emergency department the same day. Take the glue bottle with you so the doctor can read the label. Do not wait to see whether it comes loose by itself.
If you are not sure the substance was glue, or it was a different chemical, the rules change. The first sixty seconds after a chemical splash covers continuous rinsing, which is the opposite of the pad and wait described here.
What will the eye doctor do?
The doctor checks the cornea first. A drop of orange dye (fluorescein) shows up scratches under a blue light, and the doctor looks under the lids and in the folds for hidden glue. Then the glue is taken off with fine instruments and magnification. In one BMJ case report the glue was removed at the slit lamp "using fine forceps". Where the lashes are stuck, the doctor can trim them with scissors. In the Oman case this "resulted in spontaneous opening of the lids with no adhesions".
A corneal abrasion is treated with antibiotic ointment, sometimes a patch, and a follow-up visit. The Oman authors also write: "Earlier the lids are opened, better it is, as this enables the earlier examination of cornea and fornices, besides preventing any amblyopia in children." That is the reason a child who will not open the eye should be seen, not left to wait.
The action: let the doctor do the opening. It is slower for the child to wait in a clinic than to try at home, and much safer for the eye.
Will the eye heal, and how long does it take?
In the reports, the outcomes were good. The Oman patient had "no visual or morphological sequelae" at follow-up. In the BMJ report a man's eyes were normal at the two-week visit. The poison.org page says it "may take several days for the bond to loosen and for the eye to open", so the lids may stay stuck for a while. The American Academy of Ophthalmology's case ended with "a small corneal abrasion and a red eye, but his vision was saved".
The honest line: the published cases are mostly good news, but they are cases, not a promise. How fast the eye heals depends on how much glue there was, whether the cornea was scratched and how soon the eye was seen. Follow the follow-up date the doctor gives. A child's eye can be checked again after a day or two to make sure the scratch is closing.
When is glue in the eye an emergency?
Any glue in the eye deserves a same-day look. Go straight to an emergency department, and do not stay home with a compress, if any of these is true:
- The pain gets worse instead of settling.
- Light hurts, or vision is reduced or hazy.
- Glue has got under the lid or you can see a hard film on the eye.
- The product was not a cyanoacrylate glue, or you do not know what it was. Some strong chemicals injure the eye and need rinsing at once.
- A child will not open the eye a day later, or the eye is stuck shut and the child is distressed.
The NHS puts it plainly for any eye problem: seek urgent help if the eye "is not getting better after 24 hours" or "it's very painful". For a small foreign body without glue, something in my child's eye has a different set of steps.
How do I stop it happening again?
Prevention is dull, which is what makes it work. The American Academy of Ophthalmology's advice for drop mix-ups is: keep drops apart from other bottles, keep them in their boxes, learn the names and the cap colours, and "read the dropper label out loud".
- Keep glue, nail glue and craft adhesives away from the bedside, the bathroom shelf and the drop bottles, in a place a toddler cannot reach.
- Read the label before anything goes in the eye. Bottle shape and size are not enough.
- For someone with poor near vision, use a separate box or a coloured band for the real eye drops, or ask a family member to check the label first.
- Keep nail glue out of reach of children during a manicure, and keep the lid on.
For the wider checklist of what to move out of reach at home, see eye safety at home. Glue is one item in it, and a short evening round of the shelves covers the rest.
- Pain is getting worse rather than settling.
- Light hurts, or vision is reduced or hazy.
- Glue has got under the lid, or a hard film is visible on the eye.
- The product may not have been a cyanoacrylate glue, or you do not know what it was.
- A child will not open the eye a day later.
Common questions
What do I do if superglue gets in my child's eye?
Can I use nail polish remover or acetone to get glue off the eye?
Will superglue in the eye blind my child?
How long until the glued lids open by themselves?
Is it safe to wait and see if the glue comes off?
Why do people mistake glue for eye drops?
How do I prevent a glue and eye-drop mix-up?
- poison.org (America's Poison Centers) · Is super glue toxic? · www.poison.org
- Ontario Poison Centre · Super glue · www.ontariopoisoncentre.ca
- American Academy of Ophthalmology · Eye medication mix-ups · www.aao.org
- Yusuf and Patel · A sticky sight: cyanoacrylate 'superglue' injuries of the eye, BMJ Case Reports 2010 · pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Wali, Al-Senawi and Al-Mujaini · Cyanoacrylate-induced pseudo-tarsorrhaphy of the eye, Oman Journal of Ophthalmology 2009 · pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- NHS · Eye injuries · www.nhs.uk