In a new study, researchers found the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers during the COVID-19 pandemic has had a dangerous, unintended consequence: eye injuries among children.
The research was conducted by a team at Rothschild Foundation Hospital in Paris.
Hand sanitizers consist mainly of ethanol or isopropyl alcohol (60% to 95%), which are toxic to delicate structures like eyes.
As such, exposure to sanitizers may lead to blindness, due to the development of corneal ulcers or melt.
Increased use of the products during the COVID-19 pandemic has made children more vulnerable to eye-related injuries.
In the study, the team used data from French poison control and a children’s hospital in Paris.
They checked eye injuries and emergency calls stemming from exposure to hand sanitizer among children under 18.
Between April and August of 2019, such cases accounted for about 1.3% of all calls to French PCCs.
But that figure skyrocketed to 9.9% during the same time frame in 2020, a greater than seven-times rise.
Most cases were relatively mild in severity, meaning some eye pain, tingling sensations or acute inflammation, swelling, and/or discoloration.
But there were six moderately severe cases that involved limited “keratitis,” an inflammatory condition that affects the cornea. Several children had serious corneal lesions.
And while none of the 2019 cases involved public exposure to hand sanitizer, 63 did in 2020, most in French shopping malls.
Public exposure also occurred in restaurants, movie theaters, open public spaces, sports arenas, and swimming pools through contact with an automatic or foot-controlled dispenser.
The team says that sanitizer-related injuries can also occur when the alcohol has not yet evaporated and a child rubs his or her eyes.
One author of the study is Dr. Gilles Martin, an ophthalmologist.
The study is published in JAMA Ophthalmology.
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