Author: Frank R. Burns, MD and Christopher A. Paterson, PhD, DSc.
Publication: Occupational Health & Safety (April 1989)
Chemical burns to the eye are among the most urgent of ocular emergencies. The clinical outcome of the injury is directly related to the expediency with which treatment is begun. Copious irrigation is the most important emergency treatment of the chemically burned eye. This irrigation should begin immediately at the scene of the accident with any nontoxic liquid. Removal of any particulate matter must be done to prevent further ocular damage. The subsequent therapy is directed at the treatment of secondary sequelae and at preserving the globe to surgically rehabilitate the eye. Many of the treatments, which are used in the intermediate and late phases of the injury, are used to prevent corneal ulceration and perforation. These are the most difficult sequelae to threat in alkali injuries; thus, preventing the progression to this stage is of the utmost importance. Again the immediate and continuous irrigation of the eye may help accomplish this goal.
The availability of emergency eyewash equipment dispensing a safe, preserved, pH-balanced, physiologically correct solution in the industrial, agricultural and even the home setting is a necessity. The education of employees and family members in the proper technique of irrigating the eye following a chemical burn is also of extreme importance. Immediate irrigation of the eye, continued during rapid transport to a medical care facility, minimizes the damage to the eye and enhances the eventual clinical outcome.
-Once I had an exposure while give a patient a medication through a saline lock. The syringe backed out slightly and when I gave the med a little push it sprayed into my eyes. It burned, so I immediately flushed my eyes. A co-worker instilled a Morgan lens to each eye and ran sterile N.S. and I felt immediate relief.
-A local trauma surgeon and avid woodworker complained of irritation to his eye for several days. The eye was obviously irritated. After being examined by an emergency department doctor for a foreign body, and finding none, we irrigated the eye using the Morgan Lens. The surgeon found the lens to be comfortable, and after irrigation the eye felt better. Two days later his eye was better without redness or irritation.
-An employee of the hospital where I work had a car battery explode in his face. An eye irrigation was set up and initiated with the Morgan Lens. He felt much better and commented on the soothing feeling of the sterile saline irrigation.
Registered Nurse (California)
MorTan Inc.
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The Morgan Lens is used in 90% of hospital emergency departments in the USA and can be inserted in less than 20 seconds. There simply is no other "hands-free" method of eye irrigation. Nothing else frees medical personnel to treat other injuries or to transport the patient while irrigation is underway. Nothing is more effective at treating ocular chemical, thermal, and actinic burns or removing non-embedded foreign bodies, even when the patient's eyes are closed tightly. Its design makes it simple and straightforward to use so minimal training is required.