While brushing your teeth, an accidental flick of the brush can cause some toothpaste to get into your eye, causing immediate irritation to your eyeball. But what should you do if you get toothpaste in your eyes?
If you have trouble seeing, burred vision, or if pain persists longer than two hours, call poison control or go straight to the ER. If you’re only experiencing irritation, rinse your eye out thoroughly for 10 minutes with lukewarm water.
There are several methods to reduce the pain you’ll experience from accidentally getting toothpaste in your eye. The rest of this article will walk you though exactly what to do if you get toothpaste in your eye.
What Happens If You Accidentally Get Toothpaste in Your Eye?
Getting toothpaste in your eye can be a painful and unpleasant experience, but in most cases, the irritation is the only side effect you’re likely to experience.
Toothpaste contains fluoride, soaps, and sometimes mint, all of which can cause irritation in your eyes and will create the foreign object symptom (like having an eyelash in your eye) for several hours.
If the pain persists for more than two hours, you should see a doctor. Likewise, if the redness persists for longer than one day, you should consider seeing a doctor.
Your first course of action after getting toothpaste in your eye should be to try to clean it out as efficiently as possible. Use lukewarm water and rinse out your eye for a good 10 minutes.
Preferably, you shouldn’t use tap water since this can contain acanthamoeba, which can cause infections in the eye.
Chlorine in water can also irritate and dry out your eyes more. If you have eye drops or contact solution on hand, use that after rinsing to help restore moisture in the eye.
Whatever you do, don’t rub at your eye, since rubbing can cause the toothpaste to enter deeper into the eye. Rubbing also causes a lot of pain and irritation that will only make the symptoms worse.
Does Toothpaste Make Your Eyes Red?
Toothpaste can definitely make your eyes red for a while. Anytime the eye is exposed to trauma or injury, blood vessels in the eye dilate, sending blood to the affected area to help restore any damages.
This is a normal symptom of getting toothpaste (or any other foreign object for that matter) in your eye and doesn’t indicate any serious problem.
Your eyes may also be red after rinsing due to a lack of fluid, a condition called dry eye. This is often accommodated with discomfort and irritation. If you have contact solution or artificial tears, make sure to use a few drops to lubricate your eyes after the incident.
Why Does Toothpaste Make Your Eyes Red?
Toothpaste contains abrasives and chemicals that the body considers foreign. Since the eye is so delicate, it’s easily irritated, causing the body to react negatively to the presence of a foreign object.
Does Toothpaste Make Your Eyes Water?
Toothpaste in the eye can make your eyes water. Whenever there’s a foreign object in your eye, your eye’s natural response is to lubricate the area with tears to try to remove the unwanted intrusion, so crying after getting toothpaste in your eyes is actually a good thing.
It’s your body’s way of helping you rinse out the unwanted substance from your eyes.
One serious symptom that may occur as a result of getting toothpaste in your eye is blurred vision but be sure not to confuse this with blurred vision due to tears obstructing your view.
If you’re experiencing blurred vision, it’d be wise to contact poison control and telling them your symptoms. They will let you know based on the severity of what you describe whether you should go to the ER or not.
If your insurance company has a nurse on hand, it might be worth calling them so that you don’t have to drive to the ER with an irritated or blurry eye. Blurred vision can indicate damage to sensitive parts of the eye and warrants immediate medical attention.
Can You Go Blind from Getting Soap in Your Eye?
Getting soap or toothpaste in your eye usually isn’t a big deal. You’ll feel pain and irritation for a while, but that’s about it.
The damage that the foreign object does to your eye is only superficial, and your body is well equipped to repair itself properly.
In some rare cases, people can have an allergic reaction to chemicals found in soap or suffer a prolonged eye infection from getting toothpaste in their eye, but this is unlikely.
Exercise caution and listen to your body if you’re experiencing any unusual symptoms. The bacteria in foreign objects that get into your eye can cause infection, resulting in a variety of conditions that affect the eye.
Contact poison control if your symptoms worsen or you’re having trouble seeing clearly. For most people, the pain from getting toothpaste in the eye should dissipate after two hours, and all redness should be cleared up after a day.
Persisting symptoms or worsening vision are signs that something more severe has taken hold in the eye and should be addressed quickly.
Final Thoughts
Getting toothpaste in the eye can be a painful and unpleasant experience. One minute you’re minding your own business, and an accidental flick of the brush later, and your eye is irritated beyond belief.
Thankfully, you probably don’t have to worry about infections or lasting pain after getting toothpaste in your eye.
Rinse the area thoroughly for 10 minutes with lukewarm water to wash out the toothpaste and follow up with some contact drops or artificial tears to help lubricate your eye. If in doubt, you can contact poison control to have them offer an opinion about what your next steps will be.
In most cases, the irritation doesn’t cause lasting damage to the eye, and you’ll be able to go on with your life as normal within a few hours.
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