Okay, I'm not sure if this should be in Health and Fitness or The Beauty Bar (I did a search for relevant topics and nothing came up--but if there is one please redirect me to it).

At any rate, I just got shampoo in my eye! "Just" was about an hour ago. It burned like hell, then started to sting and ache. It was probably the worst pain I'd ever felt. I rinsed and rinsed and rinsed with cool water for about three minutes, and did a lot of panicking (I called my mother in tears--I ALMOST called 911) and she assured me that there wouldn't be a shampoo on the market that would make a person go blind. She told me that there are babies who get shampoo in their eyes and even they're okay in the end. I was like, "I'm not using baby shampoo!"

Now, my eye aches, and it's still very red and it hurts when I touch it. There's also been quite a bit of mucus-like substance in it; it's kind of thick and stringy. I think I got most of the shampoo out, though. In fact, I'm sure my crying helped to wash it away. My husband suggested I use Visine but I was scared to put anything in it.

What do you all do when you get shampoo in your eye? How common is this and how long will my eye hurt and be red? I thought it would be better an hour later.

omg. i agree with you, getting shampoo in my eye is one of the most painful things ever (besides pms cramps)! its like whether i open it or keep it closed, it stings like HECK both ways. i dont know what to do in your situation :( i just wait it out even though it hurts like sh!t. i guess i would do what your husband said - just maybe put few drops of visine in your eye, might help.

oh yeah. and it doesn't last THAT long. maybe... for half an hour or so then it got less irritated as time past by. it doesnt happen to me anymore thank goodness. im more careful with shampoo :)

^^^Thanks a bunch for the info! I guess I will just have to wait it out!

^ Visine could irritate the eye further by reacting with whatever was in the shampoo that irritated your eye in the first place or inflaming the eye surface further. Flushing your eye is the best thing you could have done, probably the only thing I would put in my eye at this time is a saline solution (available from a drugstore) that is specifically for flushing eyes etc.

^^^Then I'm glad my instinct to not use Visine was right!

It's still bothering me. It aches, and feels like something is "in" it. But if I even touch it lightly, it hurts a great deal. Hopefully when I wake up in the morning I won't have this problem. But at least I'm not blind. LOL.

^ If it is red and inflamed in the morning it would be best to get it checked....hopefully though it will be OK. It really sounds like it was a nasty irritant, unfortunately flushing the eye also flushes out the natural lubricant which makes it feel grainy.

Try rinsing it again to make sure its all out. I have had this happen quite a few times and I am not blind yet. I even had acetone get in my eye at the nail salon. The idiot put a running drill in a bowl of acetone and a bunch splashed on my face. The crying may have irritated your eye more. Rinse one more time and pat dry and then leave it alone. It should be better by morning.

^^^Acetone! Ouch. If you can survive that I guess I can survive this!

I just rinsed again. It doesn't really ache as much now or sting, it just feels like I have a bunch of sand in it, and it feels super-sensitive. It feels better closed. Such an annoying feeling. I have an almost instinctual feeling to want to rub or touch it, and I have to keep stopping myself from doing that, as I know that makes it worse.

You should call the doctor's office and see what they think. It sounds pretty sensitive and hope it's not infected.

I think you should have it checked just in case you scratched your eye when you were rinsing out the shampoo you got in it. Better safe than sorry when it comes to the eyes. I got undiluted bleach in my eye once- my eye healed up just fine but it hurt like nothing else and scared the crap out of me. My husband rushed me to the doctor after I flushed out my eye under the shower, the doctor flushed my out more and checked for scratches/burns. My eyeball was fine but the red lid lining part was damaged. I had to wear an eye patch to keep my eye closed on and off for a month, especially when I would go outside to keep the wind out of it.

In case you are wondering how the heck a person gets undiluted bleach in their eye, while I was picking up bleach to pour into a bucket, the bottle slipped out of my wet hand, slammed down and bleach just shot up out of the bottle directly into my eye. Perfect shot, go figure.

Did you sleep it off?

I ended up taking a couple of your suggestions and I did call the doctor's office. Based on what I said to their questions, though, they didn't think it was really necessary that I come in and have it checked out. I guess that's good.

I guess I did "sleep it off." When I went to bed, it was still very red, very sensitive to the touch, and it felt like sand or something was in it. I went to sleep about four hours after the incident, by the way.

I slept for a few hours, and woke up when my husband's alarm clock went off. I immediately remembered my eye, and went into the bathroom to check it out. It felt "sticky" for some reason, and when I looked at my eye closely, my lashes were stuck together, and there was a lot of mucus-like stuff just sitting on my eyeball--around the rims of my eyes and near my eyelids. It kind of weirded me out, but I wiped away the muck and my eye was still very red, but it didn't feel as if grit was in it. It was still a bit sore to the touch at that point. I called the doctor and left a message. I went back to sleep, and when I woke up, my eye felt fine--not as sore, and a bit red still, but not as much mucus-like stuff. The doctor called me back, and I told her how I felt. She asked me what kind of shampoo I used, did I flush my eye, and that kind of stuff. But then she said that I sounded "okay." She kind of seconded what my mom said, that it was highly unlikely that a shampoo would cause any kind of lasting damage. By 3 PM it felt as if nothing had ever happened to it (there remained only slight soreness when I touched it), and was red no longer. It had happened after 11:00 PM last night, so it took about sixteen hours, but it got better.

Thanks to EVERYONE's great advice!!!

yay! I knew you would be ok. I have done this so many times and it does feel irritated but goes away with sleep.

I just close my eyes the whole time I'm washing my hair. If you are sensitive then you should take your time to find out what works for you.

i've always freak out about getting soap/shampoo in my eyes. im glad that you are all better now. and what kind of shampoo was it and how much? i've gotten some suds in my eyes before and never had anything like what you described.