in Z news: Woman Mistakes Nail Glue for Eye Drops

On the night of January 18, Li Mei Feng, a 22-year-old college student from Sichuan province, China, took a train with her sister to visit their family. As the train clattered down the tracks, Feng’s eyes began to feel dry after her hard day of studying. Fumbling through her bag on the crowded train, Feng grabbed what she thought were eye drops and proceeded to squeeze the tiny bottle into her eye. As soon as the liquid came in contact with her right eye, an intense burning pain overcame her. Feng then realized that she hadn't used eye drops, she’d used super-adhesive nail glue!

Alpha Cyanoacrylate, also known as nail glue, is used to adhere acrylic nails to fingernails. The glue is engineered to be strong enough to keep fake nails securely fastened while performing everyday tasks.

According to instructions on the bottle, nail glue should be removed with acetone… another product you don’t want to get anywhere near your eye. Basically, you should never put nail glue anywhere near your eyes (or even your skin).

As you might expect, Feng’s right eye was glued shut. Her sister soon realized what had happened and ran to one of the train attendants for help. However, there was no way to treat her eye while on the train. Realizing this, Feng rushed to the onboard restroom and repeatedly rinsed her eye with water.

Although the shooting pain in her eye subsided to a dull ache, Feng’s eye would not open no matter what she did. She decided her only option was to wait until she arrived at her destination at Chongqing North Railway Station and seek medical attention there.

At around 10 at night, the train pulled in to Chongqing North Railway Station and Feng was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. What she thought would be a nice trip home for New Year turned into the train ride from hell.

Fortunately, Feng has made a full recovery. When asked why she was carrying around nail glue and eye drops in bottles of the same size and shape, Feng replied that she usually puts the bottles in separate compartment in her bag. On the day of her accident, she apparently mistook the eye drop compartment for the nail glue one. Let’s hope she learned her lesson and now keeps the nail glue at home.