REDFORD, Mich. — A Michigan woman is thankful her vision wasn't permanently damaged after a terrifying ordeal Thursday when she accidentally grabbed a small bottle of glue used to repair broken fingernails instead of eye drops.
The small bottle of eye drops is about the same size as the one containing nail glue. And both bottles were in Yacedrah Williams' purse when she woke up around 1 a.m. to take her contact lens out.
Still a bit groggy from waking up, Yacedrah accidentally grabbed the nail glue. She tipped her head back and it was only after the clear liquid had formed a drop that was about to fall did Yacedrah realize the bottle was not the right color. But it was too late.
"I tried to wipe it away and it sealed my eye shut," said Yacedrah, who began yelling for her husband, Derrick, to wake up and call 911.
"She went into a panic," Derrick said. "I tried to keep her from panicking, but then I said, 'Derrick, this is in her eye, not yours.'"
Thankfully, EMS rushed Yacedrah to the hospital, where doctors were able to open her eye and remove her contact lens.
“They said that actually that contact saved my vision,” said Yacedrah. “They kept saying, ‘you’ll probably lose your lashes,’ which I did, because they had to pull on it and flip the top of my lid.”
Yacedrah says she’ll never have both eye drops and nail glue in her purse again.
“I don't even think I'll have nail glue anymore,” said Yacedrah.
Dr. George Williams, the head of the Beaumont Eye Institute at Beaumont Health, says Yacedrah did the right thing by immediately throwing water in her eye.
“If you ever get anything in your eye, the immediate thing to do is try and flush your eye out. Just either hold your head under a faucet, get a bottle of water, hold your eye open and just flood your eye. You'll make a mess, but you may save your vision,” said Dr. Williams.
Though it may sound silly, Dr. Williams says he tells people it can be helpful to read the name on bottles out loud to catch mistakes like these.
Home and lifestyle contributor Carly Dorogi says it’s a good idea to keep potentially dangerous items separate from things like eye drops and other medicines in bins or areas that are clearly marked.
“The big idea is everything in its place,” said Dorogi.
This story was originally published by Kimberly Craig at WXYZ.
