Kiev. Ukraine. Ukraine Gate – January 23, 2021 – Health
Widespread use of hand sanitizer since the beginning of the pandemic has led not only to dry skin and irritation of the mucous membranes. A new study showed that in 2020, children suffered eye injuries as a result of alcohol-based antiseptics in them seven times more often than in 2019.
In a study published in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology, scientists from the French Center for Poisoning found that in France, the number of reports of children who came into contact with hand sanitizer increased sevenfold.
Hand sanitizer was the cause of 15% of all reported eye infections in children in August 2020, compared to 5% in April and only 1.3% in the previous year.
The authors write that a disinfectant containing high concentrations of alcohol can kill certain corneal cells. Children are more vulnerable to such injuries. Researchers have found that the greatest danger to them are sprays in public places, as they are often at the eye level of a small child.
In a cover article published in the same journal, researchers from India examined two specific cases where a hand sanitizer got into a child’s eyes and required hospitalization.
In one case, an antiseptic from a spray installed in a store hit a four-year-old girl in the right eye. The next day, the parents took the girl to the hospital, where medical staff found a severe tumor of the eyelid, damage to the internal tissue of the eyelid and cornea. Fortunately, after washing with saline solution and five days of treatment with eye drops, the girl recovered.
A similar eye injury was found in a five-year-old boy who was hospitalized just an hour after contact with a disinfectant. Some corneal cells began to die. However, he recovered in the same way after washing with saline and a few days of eye drops every few hours.
Unfortunately, not everyone was so lucky. According to the article, two children needed a transplant of tissue taken from the placenta into the cornea to heal their eyes.
In conclusion, the researchers note that washing hands with soap is often safer and more effective than using an antiseptic. The authors also ask parents to monitor their children more closely and teach them to use hand sanitizer stations installed in public places.
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