Woman mistakes toxic glue for eye drops

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-03 16:36

A woman who glued her eye shut for eight hours after mistaking toxic nail adhesive for eye drops is waiting to hear if she has caused lasting damage.

Paula Griffin, 29, explained that she had just woken up and was still tired when she reached for the lotion and squirted it into her right eye.

Doctors were forced to cut off her lashes before prising open her lids, which had been glued shut for eight hours, says The Daily Telegraph.

"It was agonising. It was burning so much it was my natural instinct to shut my eye. But as soon as I did, my eyelashes stuck fast together and I couldn't open my eye again," she said.

Griffin, who runs her own fancy dress business, said that the adhesive luckily only hit the outer part of her eye.

Dr Simon Bell, consultant in emergency medicine at Poole Hospital, said: "As long as the glue remains on the outside of the eye, the injury will be extremely painful but will only have superficial or cosmetic damage."