[OzEclipse (Joe Cali)]

Drano is dry 100% sodium hydroxide powder. If you get any chemical in your eye, irrigate continuously with aerated or gentle cool water eg stick your eye under a kitchen tap for a full 20-30 minutes. Giving it a quick wash then going to the doctor, even an eye specialist can do more damage than giving your eye a full 20 min flush. While you are making the appointment and travelling to the specialist, the chemical continues burning and penetrating the eye.

Sodium hydroxide reacts exothermically on contact with water so the burn is not just chemical but heat burn as well. That's the knife like sensation you felt.

As the most experienced designated first aider in my workplace, I've been called to irrigate about a half dozen chemical exposures to the eyes of workers who've had accidents over about the past 20 years. All but one have not been from the work area I supervise.

In every case I had to very strongly encourage them to stay the course and do the full 20 minute flush even though most wanted to give up after 1-2 mins. It's quite an ordeal to irrigate your eyes for 20 minutes. In every case, the doctors they went to see afterwards cleared them of damage and said that immediate irrigation was the best treatment and there was no further treatment or flush required.

There are many household and building chemicals that are extremely dangerous to the eyes. Brick cleaner is hydrochloric acid, bleach is sodium hypochlorite, rust converter is phosphoric acid. Plumbers use concentrated sulphuric acid as drain cleaner and you can buy it commercially. Drano is concentrated sodium hydroxide. I could go on and on. Treatment is the same for all chemicals as well as cold or heat burns for exposure to skin or eyes. 20 mins in room temperature running water.

Safety glasses, the hard plastic wrap arounds, don't protect you from chemical splash. The one accident we had in my area about 10 years ago was a worker using safety glasses. Something she was washing splashed back at her, hit her forehead and ran down into her eyes. Fortunately the wash liquid was very dilute. In my labs now I supply splash goggles and face shields to workers for anything involving chemical liquids.

In the attached picture, the top are splash goggles bottom are safety glasses. Note that splash goggles have a solid rubbery plastic and don't have a plastic mesh of ventilation holes


Glad you're ok.