What to do if someone swallows eye drops

If someone swallows eye drops, follow the label: If swallowed, get medical help or contact a Poison Control Center immediately. In the US, Poison Help is 1-800-222-1222, which America’s Poison Centers lists as free and answered 24/7. Call 911 instead if the person has collapsed, is having a seizure, has trouble breathing or can’t be woken. Keep the bottle and box handy for the ingredient list.

What Quell’s label says about swallowing

Quell’s Drug Facts panel carries a keep-out-of-reach line, and it reads: “If swallowed, get medical help or contact a Poison Control Center immediately.” The label doesn’t try to judge how much is too much or who is at risk. It sends you to people who can. That’s the right instinct: a poison specialist can weigh the person’s age, weight, the amount and the ingredients in a way no label can.

Who to call for swallowed eye drops

• Poison Help, 1-800-222-1222. America’s Poison Centers, the national association of US poison centers, lists this number and says experts answer 24/7/365 at no cost, with member centers serving every state and territory.
• Online: the National Capital Poison Center’s site, poison.org, offers a web tool called webPOISONCONTROL that asks about what happened and gives a recommendation.
• 911: if the person has collapsed, is having a seizure, is having trouble breathing, or can’t be woken, call 911 right away. Poison.org gives the same advice.
• Your doctor or pharmacist, for follow-up questions once the urgent part is handled.

What to have ready when you call

The specialist will ask questions quickly. Gather what you can while the phone rings:

• The bottle and the box. The active ingredients on Quell’s label are Glycerol (1.0%), Polysorbate 80 (1.0%) and Light Mineral Oil (0.5%), and the inactive ingredients are Caprylyl Glycol, Dead Sea Salt (Sodium Chloride), Emu Oil, Glyceryl Laurate, Glyceryl Undecylenate, Manuka Honey, Polaxamer 188, Sterile Water, Terminalia Chubula and Tromethamine.
• Roughly how much was swallowed: a drop or two, a mouthful, or an empty bottle. A full bottle holds .33 fl oz (10 mL).
• When it happened.
• The person’s age and approximate weight.
• Any symptoms you’ve noticed, and any other medicines they take.

Don’t wait for symptoms before calling. The label says to act immediately, and the call costs nothing.

What not to do

• Don’t wait to see whether symptoms show up.
• Don’t try home remedies; do what the poison specialist tells you.
• Don’t rely on a search engine or a message board to judge the amount.
• Don’t throw the bottle away, because the ingredient list matters.

If a child got into the bottle

Children are a big part of why the label carries this line. If a child swallowed eye drops, call Poison Help right away and give the child’s age and weight. This guide doesn’t give directions for children, and Quell’s label doesn’t either beyond its keep-out-of-reach line, so follow the specialist’s advice and the child’s doctor.

Afterward, think about where the bottle was. Small bottles end up in purses, nightstands and coat pockets, all places children explore. Keeping eye drops out of children’s reach covers storage ideas that work in a busy house.

Why an eye drop isn’t meant to be swallowed

Eye drops are made for one route: into the eye. Quell’s warnings section reads: Caution should be used in those with egg or bird allergies — For use in the eyes only. What “for use in the eyes only” means explains that line on its own.

A trace reaching the throat after a normal dose is a different matter. Tears drain from the inner corner of the eye into the nose and throat, which is why some people notice a taste after using drops. Why can I taste eye drops in my throat? covers that.

Keep the box

The outer box carries the full Drug Facts panel, and the bottle itself is small. Keeping the box, or a photo of it on your phone, means you can read the ingredients to a specialist in seconds. The full panel is also on our Drug Facts page. Quell is made by Aurora Pharmaceuticals, LLC, reachable at 615.465.6041 (M–F 9AM–5PM CST) for product questions; for a swallowing emergency, call Poison Help or 911 first, not us.

Storing drops so it’s less likely to happen

Keep bottles up high and out of sight, in a cabinet rather than on a nightstand, and put the cap back on after each use. The label’s storage line is Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F), so a high cabinet away from the stove or a hall closet shelf usually fits. Teach older kids that eye drops are medicine, not a toy. Guests’ bags are easy to forget, so ask visitors to keep their medicines up high too.