Deodorants contain a few things in them that are considered irritants and even poisonous if you happen to ingest them somehow. Spray-on deodorant is the most common culprit because the application isn’t as controlled as rubbing a stick of deodorant under your arms.
For the most part, deodorant, if it gets in your eyes, shouldn’t cause any kind of permanent damage. The first thing that you will notice is the sting, which is caused by the ethyl alcohol content. The best response is to immediately flush your eyes with water.
If you get something in your eyes on a construction project, they usually have eye rinse stations set up all over the place. It’s a little harder in your kitchen or bathroom sink, however, so it might be easier to just jump in the shower and allow the water to fall down into your eyes.
Different Health Effects from Improper Exposure to Deodorant
Depending on the kind of deodorant we’re talking about, how it’s applied, and your skin’s level of sensitivity to certain types, there are a number of health issues that improper application will cause.
Deodorant in Your Eyes
It’s not likely that you will sustain a serious injury from getting deodorant in your eyes. It will sting and it may even blur up your vision until you rinse your eyes out. You don’t want to make it a quick rinse either.
Since the muscles that are responsible for contracting and closing our eyes are not going to cooperate when you try to rinse your eyes with water, it’s best to use your fingers to pry your eye open while you rinse them.
Of course, you will want to avoid using your fingers to prop your eye open if there is material on your hands that will make the situation worse. You also want to make sure that you rinse your eyeball for a long time.
It’s more difficult to do this with a child but you have to either convince them to hold their eyelids open under running water or you will have to do it yourself. Make sure that the water is not screaming hot but lukewarm or cool.
Allow the water to pass over your eyes for several minutes to make sure that all of the chemicals from the deodorant are completely washed out.
Deodorant on Your Skin
If you have an allergic reaction to deodorant, it’s likely that it’s always been that way. People will sometimes produce a sudden allergy to something that they’ve used all of their lives but it’s not that common.
If the deodorant is causing welts or a rash to rise up on your skin, your best option is to get in the shower. Not the bath. It’s the chemicals that are causing a problem and all a bath will do is distribute those chemicals all over your skin while you are rinsing it off.
In the shower, bathe off the area that’s giving you a problem with warm soap and water. The skin isn’t like your eyeball and you won’t be able to see an immediate, positive response. Just be sure to thoroughly wash the area and dry off by lightly padding the area with a towel.
Don’t dry off briskly, as the friction from the towel will just irritate the skin even more.
Ingestion
There are a few symptoms that ingesting deodorant can cause, most of them mild unless you happen to consume a lot of deodorants.
- Irritation in the lining of the mouth
- Irritation in the lining of your throat
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea (If the deodorant consumed is the stick variety)
- Nausea
Rinse out the mouth entirely and consume a small glass of milk. Unless there were a lot of deodorants ingested, you should be ok but it’s still a good idea to contact the poison control center or call 911 if it’s an emergency.
How Long Do You Rinse Your Eyes For?
The standard first aid practice is to rinse your eyeballs for a full 20 minutes. That sounds like a really long time and it is. However, it’s important to thoroughly rinse the deodorant completely out. Otherwise, it will continue to cause irritation and maybe lead to something worse later.
The best way to rinse your eyes without focusing a stream of water directly into your eyes is to get in the shower. Allow the water to strike the bridge of your nose while you hold your eye open with one hand. Use two hands if both eyes have deodorant in them.
You can also let the water hit your forehead so it flows down into your eyes. Gravity will carry the water in, around, and out of your eyes for you. Just stand there and let it rinse for a solid 20 minutes. If your eyes are still irritated afterward, you should seek medical attention.
If you are wearing contact lenses, remove them immediately and set them inside their containers to be rinsed off as well. It’s also a good idea to thoroughly wash and clean your hands so that no deodorant on your hands is accidentally transferred to your eyes.
What to Avoid
Avoid rubbing your eyes while the deodorant is still in there. This will only irritate your eyes more because you’ll create additional friction, heat, and blood flow to the eyes and eyeballs. It will also spread the deodorant around inside your eye, making a minor situation much worse.
Don’t use anything other than water to rinse your eyes out. You can use eye drops or contact lens solution, but since you need to rinse your eyes out with water for a full 20 minutes, you probably don’t have enough solution to last that long.
Final Thoughts
Getting deodorant in your eye is not a major, life-or-death situation unless you happen to be allergic to the stuff on top of everything else. However, it can gradually get worse if you don’t get it out of your eyes as soon as possible.
Worst case scenario, assuming you are having trouble getting it out or having an allergic reaction, call 911 or get emergency service from your family physician as soon as possible.
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