• Jaekyoung Lee and Jong Hwa Jun.
• Department of Ophthalmology, Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center, Daegu, Republic of Korea.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2021 Oct 22; 100 (42): e27292e27292.

IntroductionAlcohol-based hand sanitizers (ABHS) are widely used for hand hygiene due to the coronavirus disease pandemic. However, risk awareness regarding its adverse effects is lacking. We aim to report a case of ocular chemical burn that showed severe clinical presentation associated with ABHS.Patient ConcernsA 5-year-old girl presented with severe left eye pain after 62% gel-type ABHS splashed into her eye.DiagnosisOn slit lamp examination, a near total corneal and conjunctival epithelial defect with limbal pale on the lower half of the cornea was noted. Severe ocular burn by ABHS was prominent with suspected limbal stem cell damage.InterventionsShe was hospitalized and was prescribed topical medications including antibiotics, steroid eye drops with preservative-free artificial tears, and oral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.OutcomesDespite intensive medical treatments, the corneal and conjunctival epithelial defects showed no improvement up to the 4th hospital day. After additional instillation of autoserum eye drops to promote epithelial healing, the corneal epithelium barely recovered from the temporal limbus. On the third week of admission, the epithelial defect was completely resolved without corneal opacity, although with minimal symblepharon in the lower fornix.ConclusionsGel-type ABHS can cause severe form of ocular chemical burn such as delayed ocular surface healing. In clinical setting, immediate and thorough rinsing of alcohol-based gel and early intensive treatment are crucial.Copyright © 2021 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

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