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The surface of a three-year-old boy’s eye was “completely burned out” after he received chemical burns while using a foot pedal hand sanitizer dispenser at a Wellington restaurant.
Almost two months after the incident, where the disinfectant was sprayed into his left eye causing damage to the corneal epithelium, James Lapthorn’s vision has now improved after being “totally impaired” in one eye, his mother said, Liz Partridge said.
The family doctor said his eye has healed to about 90 percent, but until he’s older and can perform more sophisticated eye tests, it is unknown how severely his long-term vision has been affected.
Partridge also cautions other parents and businesses about the potential safety risk of the dispensers, which are in plain sight of young children, and questions the need for them, given that the sanitizer is applied after using a hand pump.
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“It was terrifyingly scary… We didn’t sleep for three nights as he was constantly crying in pain and that was with full doses of painkillers. I couldn’t open my eyes, ”he said.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident at La Saigon on Featherston St on October 30, Partridge took James out of office hours, where they administered eye drops and sent him home.
The next morning, he took him to the hospital.
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James Lapthorn suffered chemical burns to his eye from using a foot pump with hand sanitizer.
“James couldn’t open his eye and it was hugely swollen and had gunk from the infection.”
Since then, she has needed weeks of visits to the hospital and specialists, steroids, antibiotics, and eye drops four times a day.
Partridge posted a warning to other parents online, saying she would be “heartbroken” if the harrowing incident happened to other children.
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James has received weeks of medical care that includes eye exams, antibiotics, steroids, and eye drops four times a day.
He was asked to share the incident publicly after visiting the Karori Pool, where he saw that there was also a dispenser.
A Wellington City Council spokeswoman said it has since removed all dispensers from its premises, but has not received any complaints about any other incidents.
La Saigon manager Ayushma Nakarmi said that when the incident occurred, staff apologized to the family and provided water to rinse his eye.
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The La Saigon manager said the dispenser is popular with customers but will be withdrawn if Worksafe or Wellington City Council requires it.
She said the dispenser, which is popular with customers, is still installed in the restaurant and will remain there unless the council or Worksafe directs them to remove it.
“People are very happy to have a pedal, this accident can happen to anyone, it should be a precaution that a parent should take, not us. We cannot control children. “
Nakarmi said the restaurant must offer hand sanitizer due to Covid-19 and that no other complaints about the dispenser have been received.
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Muscle damage from the incident means James was left with his left eye dropped.
“We have hundreds of people coming [through] every day … in hospitality we cannot satisfy everyone “.
Partridge said that every time he sees the dispensers, he shares James’ story and urges the store owners not to be complacent and encourages them to have a warning for parents.
“Ideally they would just take it away and use hand pump bottles. It doesn’t seem right that something that can be so harmful, and really attractive to curious children, should be placed within their direct reach, ”he said.
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James with his father in the hospital receiving treatment for the injury.
Worksafe said it received a notification about the incident and is asking questions.
“We are likely to engage with the company via letter to ensure health and safety obligations are understood and met,” said a spokeswoman.
A spokesperson for Regional Public Health said it has not received any reports of chemical injuries related to hand sanitizer.
MONIQUE FORD / Things
Ongoing damage to James’s farsightedness cannot be determined due to his eye and his ability to perform some eye tests.
From January 1 to May 17 of this year, the National Poisons Center received an increase in calls related to the exposure of hand sanitizer products among children aged 0 to 5, compared to the same period last year.
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Education recommended to early childhood centers that hand sanitizer, like other sanitizers, should be kept out of the reach of children and should only be used with supervision.
