A mother has told how her 10-year-old daughter was almost blinded after copying a viral 'beauty hack' she saw on YouTube, which involved putting nail polish remover in her eyes.
Rebecca Soal, from Caerphilly, Wales, said she noticed the smell of nail polish remover coming from the bathroom on Monday evening [September 20] and went to check on her daughter, Phoebe Jones. The stay-at-home mum said she was 'petrified' after finding that Phoebe had put drops of the product in her eyes and rubbed it on her lips.
Phoebe told her mother she had seen people on YouTube using the product as eye drops and to get 'fuller' lips. Although the product was free from acetone, which can cause permanent damage to the eyes, it contained eye irritants ethyl acetate, isopropanol and bitrex. The bottle also carried a warning stating that in case of contact with the eyes, the user should rinse with water for several minutes.
Hospital treatment
Rebecca rushed Phoebe, who claimed her vision was blurry, to hospital, where doctors flushed her eyes with a litre of saline solution. The mum-of-three now faces an anxious wait to find out whether any permanent damage has been caused to Phoebe's eyesight.
While recognising the videos Phoebe watched were meant as 'comedy' clips, Rebecca claims children take them literally and are influenced by them. She said she 'can't wait' for the Government ban on social media for under 16s to come into effect next year, and is urging parents to be vigilant about what their children watch online.
Mother's warning
Rebecca said: "She went into the bathroom, grabbed my nail varnish remover, tapped it on a cotton bud and wiped it all over her lips. Then she dropped [some] drops in each eye. This stupid video said it's a good alternative to eye drops."
"I was going upstairs to take my youngest daughter to bed, and the smell was horrific. I got that gut feeling, I went to my daughter, and it clicked. It was frightening. She was in pain, but it took her a while to confess everything to us. Her lips and eyes were red."
"They use water in the videos to gain likes; they're joking, but kids take it literally. We've seen a lot of similar videos, and it's absolutely disgusting. It's just scary. We can't wait for this Government ban because it's not safe to do anything anymore. They go on YouTube to watch their favourite Roblox videos, you don't expect kids to take part in trends."
Chemical burn and recovery
Phoebe was also left with a chemical burn on her lips and is using Vaseline to keep them from cracking open. Rebecca said: "I panicked. I did fear she was going to go blind [...], and I was thinking of the worst. It is petrifying, I'm so glad the nail polish remover she used was acetone-free."
"Doctors said she was really lucky. She had a litre of saline water in each eye to flush it all out. The PH levels reduced after the flush. They put something in her eye to check the cornea for damage. They said she had a slight chemical burn on her lips and that she is lucky it hadn't blistered. We use Vaseline now to keep them moist because they are so dry and cracked."
"We're waiting for a specialist appointment for her eyes so we don't have the full picture at the moment. She has complained about her vision being worse - very blurry."
Rebecca has now banned her children from social media and is speaking out to warn other parents. She said: "It is heartbreaking, you trust your children with everything. You don't expect it to happen in your household. She went through all that pain over stupid stuff."
"We are going to be a lot more vigilant. All my children are now on a ban, we can't take any more risks. We don't want it to happen to somebody else because they might not be as lucky as she was. Be more vigilant with your children. I know you trust your children, but do you trust them enough not to be influenced? I'm hoping she understands what she has done now."
YouTube confirmed they were investigating the videos.
