irkland Signature™ Ultra Clean Laundry Detergent 120 Pacs laundry soaps or detergents

The reports, as CPSC published them

1. Emergency room

   Made Dec 15, 2014 · , sent to the company Dec 23, 2014 · , published by CPSC Jan 9, 2015

   The product, in the report: Kirkland Signature™ Ultra Clean Laundry Detergent 120 Pacs Distributed by COSTCO

   12/14/14 1:30 pm Sunday A 13 year old female decided to wash her PE clothes. She may have had damp hands and grabbed her PE clothes and put them in the washing machine. She then grabbed a Costco Kirkland Signature Ultra Clean Laundry Detergent Pac (LDP) and held it in her hand, while she decided to grab more clothes from the hamper next to the dryer to fill the machine. She put those clothes in the washer and then went to drop the LDP into the machine, however it was stuck to her hand.

   She could not pull her fingers apart, as the plastic coating melted and began to dissolve on her skin. She tried to pull her thumb and index finger apart with a little more force, about 2 feet from her face. All of a sudden, the LDP exploded and burst.

   Less than half the detergent from the PAC covered her face, mouth, eyes, hair and clothes. More was found on the door, on the floor, and blue drops of detergent were in the empty laundry basket a couple feet away.

   The LDP must have had a lot of pressure to spray that distance and with such force.

   She dropped the LDP and ran in the house immediately to the kitchen sink and began to rinse out her mouth and eyes. The right eye had the biggest hit.

   This is where I found her, frantically rinsing the suds out of her eye, from her hair and mouth.

   We rinsed at the sink for a few minutes, as she screamed from the pain.

   I called the poison control number on the bottle and then proceeded to get in the shower to keep a slow trickle of water running through her eye.

   Poison Control advised me to keep running water through her eye for 10 to 15 minutes. They then told me to have her close her eye for 20 minutes and rest.

   We did this, and she was in constant pain, both in the shower and while resting.

   She was able to see out of her eye, although she saw a halo effect, had blurred vision and felt like she was looking through fog.

   At 2:44 pm, I placed a call to her pediatrician and left a message for the advice nurse.

   At the same time, I called my RN relative and asked her advice. She recommended we go to urgent care right away.

   At 3 pm we were on the road.

   At 3:09 pm, As we were driving to urgent care, the advice nurse returned our call and said that we did the right thing and should continue proceeding to urgent care.

   3:15 PM We arrived at Urgent Care in Mountain View to a packed waiting room

   3:17 PM - We were called in for care after a very short wait. We learned that chemical burns to the eye are considered quite dangerous and high on the urgency priority list.

   She was seen by several doctors and nurses and the main doctor was in constant communication with an Opthalmologist. Her eye injury is severe and she has been in constant pain.

   Her PH level in her eye was 8.5 and the appropriate level is 7.0.

   They tested her eye several times - probably 4-5 times or more.

   Her eye was rinsed with saline solution 4 separate times, 3.6 liters total to drop the base level back to normal.

   The doctor used a dye test where she dyed both her eyes an orange color and then shined an ultraviolet light on both eyes so that she could see the chemical burn locations. The light showed several significant spots on her right eye, especially on the pupil itself, along the bottom and top right corner.

   Her eye pressure tested in a normal range. Her right eye was 13 and her left eye was 16. Normal is 20 or less.

   They put a patch on her eye to protect it and to keep her hands away from accidentally scratching her eye.

   She is taking pain meds, pain eye drops, antibiotic eye drops, and using natural tears as often as possible to help the eye heal.

   At 8 pm, we left urgent care, almost 5 hours after we arrived.

   The problem with the laundry [REDACTED] is that the chemicals are super concentrated and do not rinse off the eye very well. This is a huge danger!!

   Day 2 - Saw the opthalmologist. The ph level of the eye was high again, signifying that there was still detergent in the eye. The Doctor rinsed her eye again with saline and was able to bring the ph level back down again. She is able to see out of her eye, which is a good sign and there is constant redness which means the eye is fighting to heal itself. Will go back again tomorrow for another check up.

   Model

   807760

   Bought from

   Costco

   Bought

   Oct 29, 2014, about then

   Where

   SUNNYVALE, California: Home/Apartment/Condominium

   Who was involved

   Age 13, Female

   The reporter’s relation to them

   My Child

   As this report names them

   Brand irkland Signature™ Ultra Clean Laundry Detergent 120 Pacs, made or sold by Costco Wholesale

   How badly, in CPSC’s words

   Injury, Emergency Department Treatment Received

CPSC’s disclaimer

Sources