Foreign object or chemical product in an eye

Essential information to remember

If your child is too young to cooperate while you rinse her eye under the tap, place her on her back, keep her eye open, and pour water right into her eye with a cup.

To remove a foreign object (grain of sand, small insect, blade of grass, eyelash, etc.), gently rinse the eye under a slow stream of warm water at the faucet.

If you see a foreign object in the inside corner of her eye, try to remove it with the corner of a wet tissue. If you cannot remove the foreign object, the eye continues to tear, or your child’s condition does not improve

  • Don’t insist
  • Keep your child from rubbing her eye and apply a cold wet washcloth to the eye to relieve the pain
  • See a doctor or optometrist right away

If your child got splashed in the eye with a product that can cause burns (household cleaning product, pool chlorine, etc.), rinse the eye immediately. Be careful not to contaminate the other eye when rinsing. Rinse for a long time, from 15 to 30 minutes. Exact rinsing time depends on the product that caused the burn.

As soon as you start rinsing, contact the Québec Poison Control Centre for further instructions at 1‑800‑463‑5060. They will instruct you how to proceed.