This thing that every household has can dissolve a child's eyeball in 20 minutes

Case replay: Coco's mother's oral account

Coco’s mother: My son Coco is 8 years old and is in the second grade of primary school. On the day of the incident, the child had just returned home after finishing his midterm exam.

Coco was very happy along the way and said that she did well in the midterm exam. I was also happy for my child's serious study during this period. So, in order to reward our son, we went to the supermarket on the way home and bought him a lot of his favorite snacks. We brought them home in big and small bags, which made our son very happy.

When we got home, Coco happily sat on the sofa, eating snacks and watching cartoons, while I was busy in the kitchen cooking dinner. About 15 minutes later, I heard Coco's screams in the living room and ran out to take a look. The scene in front of me stunned me! I saw Coco covering her eyes, crying loudly and rolling on the ground in pain. A beverage bottle that had exploded and deformed fell to the ground, and the floor was full of water...!

Without taking time to find out the reason, I immediately carried Coco downstairs and took a taxi to the nearest hospital, which took about 20 minutes. However, what I never expected was that in just these 20 minutes, Coco's right eye was completely destroyed!

After the doctor's examination, he told us that Coco's right eye was eroded by the alkaline liquid and the entire eyeball was dissolved, causing lifelong blindness! No medical treatment can save the patient!

The doctor’s diagnosis was like a bolt from the blue. When I looked at my son’s miserable condition, I collapsed to the ground and didn’t even have the strength to cry.

When the doctor asked how the son was injured, the son said that after he finished eating his snacks, he found a small bag inside the packaging. He didn't know what was in it, so he picked it up to play with it. He first picked it up and sniffed it, then for fun he put the small bag into a beverage bottle filled with water. Unexpectedly, it exploded as soon as he put it in. At that moment, Coco felt something entered his right eye, which burned him very painfully, and then he could no longer see.

We now know that the "small bag" in the packaging bag that my son mentioned is food desiccant!

As a mother, I now deeply regret my ignorance and negligence. In the past, I only knew that food desiccants were not edible, but I never thought that they were so dangerous and harmful and would lead to such serious consequences!

Keke is only 8 years old this year. He was originally smart, lively and handsome, but unexpectedly he lost an eye like this! What should Coco do with her future life? !

Other similar cases

In fact, it is not uncommon for children to be harmed by desiccant like Coco.

In 2011, a junior high school student in Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province put a packet of food desiccant into a thermos cup. Soon the thermos cup suddenly exploded with a loud noise, causing the student to be almost blind in his right eye.

In July 2013, a junior high school student in Jiangsu did not believe that desiccant could explode when it came into contact with water. While conducting an experiment with his classmates, his arm was scalded by the liquid splashed from an exploding plastic bottle.

In 2015, a 5-year-old child in Shangrao, Zhejiang, accidentally splashed food desiccant into his eyes after opening it. The child was diagnosed with burns on his eyeballs and eyelids, and endophthalmitis in both eyes, which may cause permanent vision damage.

Knowledge Popularization: About Food Desiccant

Common desiccants in life are:

1. Quicklime desiccant

2. Silica gel desiccant

3. Montmorillonite desiccant

4. Fiber desiccant

The desiccant commonly used in food is quicklime!

According to food science experts, the main component of quicklime desiccant is calcium oxide, which will undergo a chemical reaction when it comes into contact with water to produce calcium hydroxide and release a large amount of heat.

Because the moisture content in food packaging bags is extremely low, desiccant usually does not change significantly. However, if lime desiccant is placed in a plastic bottle with water, and plastic bottles are usually large inside and small at the mouth, and relatively closed, this will cause the air in the bottle to expand rapidly. When the pressure exceeds the bottle's pressure resistance, an explosion may occur. At this time, quicklime has generated calcium hydroxide when it meets water. This is a highly corrosive alkaline liquid. When it splashes onto the human body surface with the explosion of the container, it will cause varying degrees of damage.

Experts have repeatedly warned that this alkaline liquid can cause serious harm to the human body, especially the eyes, because it is very destructive to the cornea, so guardians of children at home must be careful not to let children come into contact with food desiccants, especially quicklime desiccant.

It is understood that because quicklime desiccant has excellent drying and moisture absorption effects and is relatively low in price, it is widely used in the drying and sealing of various products such as food, medicine, medical care, clothing, textiles, tea, leather, luggage, shoes, electrical appliances, instruments, meters, equipment, etc. Therefore, if you have children at home, in addition to being careful about food desiccants in daily snacks, you should also be careful about desiccants placed in other items!

Key point: How to provide first aid if your body comes into contact with desiccant? !

1. If the skin is contaminated, rinse continuously with plenty of clean water (for at least 15 minutes), then go to the hospital after simple treatment.

2. If your eyes are contaminated, since the lime powder will react the moment it enters your eyes, you should also rinse them continuously with plenty of water (for more than half an hour), and pay attention to rotating your eyeballs while rinsing. Never wait until you are sent to the hospital to deal with it, otherwise the consequences will be very serious!

When the eye irritation is no longer so obvious, go to the nearest hospital for treatment immediately. In an emergency, do not wait in line to register, go directly to the ophthalmology department, explain the situation to the doctor and get immediate treatment.

3. If accidentally ingested, it will burn the digestive tract. Don't panic if you encounter this situation. Immediately take clean water orally (10 ml/kg body weight, total amount not exceeding 200 ml) to dilute the alkaline solution, and then take milk, egg white water, olive oil or other vegetable oil orally to protect the wound surface and prevent further corrosion.