An Australian family experienced a nightmare after their 4-year-old girl was temporarily blinded in one eye by a common household product—a washing pod.
The parents are now issuing an urgent warning for others to be aware.
The little girl, Luca de Groot, was helping her mother, Jodi Lowe, with the laundry when she suddenly bit into a Persil washing pod while mom wasn’t looking.
The pod burst into her face, leaving her screaming. Before her mom could do anything, the girl tried taking the substance from her face by rubbing it, which only made things worse as it got to her eyes.
The girl was helping her mom with the laundry when she bit into the washing pod that burst into her face, leaving her temporarily blinded.
Jodi rushed Luca into the shower and tried to wash her face as the warning label of the washing pod said to “immediately flush [eyes] with water… and seek medical advice.”
Unfortunately, things only got worse from there, and Jodi took her daughter to the hospital.
Doctors tried to flush her eyes out four times, but failed each time. It was then that they took her to the operating room for an emergency surgery.
The girl was helping her mom with the laundry when she bit into the washing pod that burst into her face, leaving her temporarily blinded.
Luca’s condition required a second operation, and then a third one, during which she received an amniotic membrane transplant to help promote healing.
Luca spent 16 days at the hospital, and the sight in one of her eyes is yet to be restored.
The girl was helping her mom with the laundry when she bit into the washing pod that burst into her face, leaving her temporarily blinded.
Jodi said of her girl, “Her sight in her left eye isn’t fully there yet but is coming back slowly. She has a slight vision impairment.
“It could’ve been a lot worse. It’s been pretty traumatic. It’s not easy seeing your daughter in so much pain with nothing you can do.”
This mom is now urging other parents to be very careful with this common household item, saying that the current warnings on the Persil (sold as Omo in Australia) “are not good enough.”
“I know [Persil] say keep them away from the kids but on the packet it doesn’t say anything about going to a hospital. It just says ‘seek medical advice.
“It needs to be more. It’s not good enough how it is,” she said.
“I didn’t realise the extent of injuries they could cause. You wouldn’t think direct contact could cause pretty excessive burns, three surgeries and 16 days in hospital.
“There needs to be more awareness on their packaging.”
A spokesman for Unilever, which owns the global laundry brand, said such accident is one too many, adding that their products “are not intended for use by children, and packaging is fitted with child safety closures and warnings on the front and back of pack.”
They added they contacted the mother and are considering reviewing the warnings and safety advice on their products distributed across Asutralia.