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What to Do if Pepper Spray Gets into the Eyes?

What to Do if Pepper Spray Gets into the Eyes?

December 20, 2022

First and foremost, it’s important to remain calm. If you are wearing contact lenses you will need to remove them as soon as you can. You need to do it with clean fingers, if your skin has been in contact with pepper spray, you will make your condition even worse. Once you remove your contact lenses, make sure to dispose them, as they cannot be repaired afterwards.

Refrain from rubbing your eyes as it will spread the spray and only increase the intensity of your pain. You can try flushing your eyes with a saline solution.

How to Get Pepper Spray Out Of Eyes

If you somehow gotten pepper spray in your eyes, you will be urged to wash it off immediately. The spray causes very strong burning sensation in the eyes, you won’t even be able to open them. Pepper spray cause inflammation and make it difficult to breathe.

There are some remedies to help you ease the pain and getting the spray out of the eyes, but don’t expect the effects to resolve very quickly.

React Quickly. Avoid touching your eyes. The pepper spray has an oily structure to it and when you rub your eyes you may spread the solution, resulting in expanding the affected area. Try to resist the feeling to rub your eyes. Blink as much as you can and help your eye tear up. Blinking produces the liquid that helps to flush your eyes.

If you happen to be wearing contact lenses, remove them immediately. The spray residues stick to the lenses so you will need to throw them away.

Try flushing your eyes with water or a soap that isn’t oil based. There may be residues left of the spray even after flushing your eyes. Use over-the-counter saline based eye drops to ease the irritation.

If you are still uncomfortable and feeling irritation in your eyes, you can use milk to relieve the burning sensation in your eyes. Milk is used as a pepper spray antidote. However, professionals state that milk doesn’t clean off the oily residue of the spray and it’s not a sterile option.

Can Pepper Spray Damage Your Eyes

There isn’t an extensive evidence that suggest pepper spray causes permanent damage to the eye. Although, repeated exposure can damage your cornea permanently.

Once exposed, complications are rare. However, serious exposure to the pepper spray can lead to severe complications to the eyes, skin and respiratory tract.

Pepper Spray Effects on Eyes

Exposure to pepper spray immediately affects the eyes, causing uncontrollable earing, not being able to open he eyes, the stingy feeling, redness and swelling.

How to Clean Pepper Spray from Eyes

●Rapidly blink your eyes, when your eyes tear up and it helps with flushing.

●Washing your skin with soap will help to get rid of the oily residue of the pepper spray.

●In order to relieve the pain, soak milk in cotton pads and leave it on your eyes for a few minutes.

●Use saline eye drops to flush your eyes.

FAQ

How to Get Pepper Spray Out of Eyes?
If you happen to be wearing contact lenses, remove them with clean fingers and throw them away. Try flushing your eyes with water and wash our skin with soap to get rid of residue. Exposure to air helps. If your eyes are burning too much, try flushing them with milk, keep in mind that this option is not sterile. Use saline eye drops regularly.
How Long Does Pepper Spray Last in Eyes?
Depending on your exposure to the substance the effects may vary. However, the effects usually last about 15-45 minutes. If you experience the effects a lot longer than expected, make sure to seek medical help.