SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20190916-09F3F-2147377663. Severity: Injury, Emergency Department Treatment Received. Product: www.dropps.com unscented (Laundry detergent pod. Unscented. Mail order from www.dropps.com). Incident: On the evening of August 14, 2019 I did a small load of laundry. I reached into the Dropps.com container to get out a pod and 4 were stuck together. I pulled them apart into 2 sections and then took one of the pairs and pulled them apart. As I pulled, I must have squeezed and one exploded and the detergent shot into my right eye. The pain was searing and I immediately tried to flush my eye. The detergent was thick and just got soapy as I flushed. I had my husband drive me to Urgent Care where they repeatedly flushed the eye over the course of an hour. Eventually they sent me home recommending that I see an ophthalmologist in the morning or go to the ER if it was not better. In the morning the eye was too painful to open, swollen, inflamed, and I had no vision, I called the doctor recommended by Urgent Care but there were no appointments available. My husband took me to the Emergency Room at [REDACTED] Medical Center (a Shock Trauma center). I was seen by an ENT. Again he flushed my eye using a drain and running a liter of fluid through it. He sent me home with prescriptions for antibiotics and a recommendation to see an ophthalmologist. On August 16, I called the Envision Eye Center ([REDACTED]) to schedule an appointment. I explained what had happened and they had me come in immediately. [REDACTED] diagnosed me with a chemical burn to my eye which burned all the skin over my cornea and the white of my eye. Treatment continues because, as I healed, I developed a herpes simplex rash in my eye due to the stress and compromise. It is now over a month and I am still being treat