What happens if naoh in eyes

Sodium hydroxide is a potentially dangerous substance. It can hurt you if it touches your skin, if you drink it or if you breathe it. Eating or drinking sodium hydroxide can cause severe burns and immediate vomiting, nausea, diarrhea or chest and stomach pain, as well as swallowing difficulties.

Damage to the mouth, throat and stomach is immediate. Breathing it can cause severe irritation of the upper respiratory tract with coughing, burns and difficulty breathing. The harmful effects of sodium hydroxide depend on several factors including the concentration of sodium hydroxide, length of time exposed, and whether you touched it, drank it or inhaled it.

Contact with very high concentrations of sodium hydroxide can cause severe burns to the eyes, skin, digestive system or lungs, resulting in permanent damage or death. Prolonged or repeated skin contact may cause dermatitis.

Repeated inhalation of sodium hydroxide vapor can lead to permanent lung damage. Contact the Poison Center at for more information about exposure to sodium hydroxide.

Back in , sodium hydroxide was reported as one of the ten most commonly spilled or released chemicals in Tennessee. Spills and Emergencies — If employees are required to clean up spills, they must be properly trained and equipped. For sodium hydroxide in solution, absorb liquids in dry sand, earth, or a similar material and place into sealed containers for disposal.

Collect solid material in the most convenient and safe manner and place into sealed containers for disposal. It may be necessary to contain and dispose of sodium hydroxide as a hazardous waste. Sodium hydroxide reacts with strong acids hydrochloric, sulfuric or nitric , water, and moisture to rapidly release heat. Sodium hydroxide reacts with metals aluminum, lead, tin or zinc to form flammable and explosive hydrogen gas.

Sodium hydroxide can form shock sensitive salts on contact with nitrogen containing compounds. Sodium hydroxide is not compatible with oxidizing agents, chlorinated solvents, ammonia, and organic materials.

Store in original, tightly closed, containers in a cool, well ventilated area away from water and moisture.

Sodium hydroxide can attack iron, copper, plastics, rubber, and coatings. Tennessee Poison Center www. Tennessee Department of Health - Healthy Homes www. The patients were followed up for 1 year, and parameters including best-corrected visual acuity, epithelial defect area, conjunctival and limbal involvement, and injury-related complications were evaluated. Median best-corrected visual acuity at presentation was 1.

The median initial epithelial defect was mm 2 range, 18 to mm 2 , which healed in all eyes by 3. Initial median limbal involvement was 12 clock hours range, 3 to 12 clock hours , resulting in a residual limbal stem cell deficiency of 6 clock hours range, 0 to 12 clock hours at 1 year. Aside from further flushing, what more could a doctor do?

Are there tests to determine whether I have rid my eye of the sodium hydroxide? With time, will my body be able to naturally dilute and remove any that might still be in there? I have very mild burns on my left hand and forehead. Following the balloon burst, rinsing my eyes was my first priority. Skin was second. By far, the burn on my left hand is the more severe of the two. Though, it feels no worse than a bad sunburn. It is now a little pink.

And, during last night's shower, it was very sensitive to the hot, pressurized water coming from the showerhead. The small burn on my forehead just felt kind of like a carpet burn or something. It already seems to be all better. But what about my eyes? They do not feel that bad.

The right seems a little dry. And it is a bit bloodshot. About the same as last night after the fifteen minutes of flushing. It looked better beforehand. Actually, any eye discomfort I have right now seems to be external to the eye. Like the outer corner of the lower lid of my right eye, on the outside. Medical attention is usually a "better safe than sorry" for of thing, especially considering your particular accident.

Although I'm not sure it's entirely necessary to be honest. The only thing I can think of is that the increased discomfort from running your eye in water was from, well, running your eye through water.

But if there is any remaining NaOH in the fluid around your eye it might help. Again this is entirely speculative though. Best of luck to you, let us all know how things turn out Member Is Offline Mood: Streching my cotyledons. If you have corneal burns you would know. It would feel as if you had a foreign object like sand in your eyes. Use lubricating drops and see an optometrist if irritation continues. Care for the burns on your skin.

Be smart in your experimentation. Wear gloves and goggles when working with caustic for christ's sake. You are lucky. Also, just throwing together hydroxide and foil to fill a balloon is a little kewlish. Measure your reactants stichometricaly, pre-determine the volume of hydrogen that will be generated, control reaction temperatures, ect.

That is science. Be safe when having fun. I imagine that either the high heat of the evolved gas and steam weakened the balloon, or some lye splashed in it. It wouldn't take much to weaken its integrity I imagine. Quote: Originally posted by terrax The long flush of 15 minutes, although bringing discomfort, most likely is good.

The only thing is that it would be better if you had done it immediately. But your initial reaction of splashing your face and putting your head under water with open eyes also was good. If your eye sight is not damaged and the feeling of discomfort has dimished already, then I would not worry too much anymore. Right now you don't have any NaOH in your eyes, otherwise you certainly would feel it. Just keep an eye on it. If tomorrow there still is discomfort, or if discomfort increases again, then seek medical attention.

I once had a somewhat similar accident, although not with a chemistry experiment. I was cleaning a roof from a garden house, which was painted at the lower side.

It was very dirty and it had to be repainted. A big drop of ammonia fel precisely into my eye and this burned increadibly. It was terribly painful. I immediately rinsed with a lot of tap water for a few minutes and this relieved me from the pain. I only had a red eye for a day or so, but no adverse effects on quality of sight and besides the rinsing I have not taken any further action.

Water under the bridge but goggles! EYES: Buy some eye drops or if you have a sterile saline solution, use that to flush. SKIN: The 'burns' on your skin will probably linger for up to 3 weeks. NaOH dissolves the oils in your skin so keep moisturized with an oil-based cream or similar.

No substitute for medical advice so if you don't notice an improvement, seek medical attention. I've heard that before about acids and bases on exposure to eyes. Entropy51 are you a doctor? If you don't mind me asking of course. I thought I remembered you saying that you were at some point in time on this forum but I don't remember where. But terrax if that is indeed true I would go to a doctor immediately. None of our speculating beats a doctor's warning to go see a doctor.

I would have quickly doused myself in Vinegar to neutralize the NaOH, I have a bottle of it just in case of emergancys.