Common Remedy For Eye Irritation May Do More Harm Than Good

Just the other day, my poor friend Emma got jalapeño juice in her eye! It has been a whole horrible ordeal involving doctors' visits and some pretty fashionable eye patches, and she's sharing the journey on her Facebook page for people to follow along and laugh at her expense.

Myth-Busting Remedy

She also posted some myth-busting advice from her optometrist that I just had to tell y'all about because I was surprised to read it. A common remedy for eye irritation is actually not recommended at all, but I have totally used it before. Milk!

M-Kat's Spicy Night at the University of Louisville Library

When I was a junior in college, I was hanging out in the library, killing time before a meeting. My plan was to look for a documentary to check out. I set down my bag at my favorite table where I could people-watch. My keys were hanging on a bracelet around my wrist, so I grabbed them, tugged them off, and set them down as well.

Then I put my hair up in a ponytail, adjusted my glasses, and rubbed my eyes. Immediately, my face goes up in flames. I'm standing there in pain with tears streaming down as I put together what in the world happened. My pepper sprayer keychain must have leaked, and when I grabbed it, it got on my hands.

Starbucks For the Win

Touching my face and eyes left me blind and miserable in the middle of the books and computers. Luckily, there was and still is a Starbucks attached to the backend of Ekstrom, so I abandoned my belongings and did my best to make my way there. I could barely see anything, and my nose was running like a faucet.

Looking For Help When You Can't See S#*t

I am pretty sure I cut a really long line to ask the confused girl behind the counter for a cup of milk. She could tell I was in distress, didn't ask any questions, didn't ask for payment. Just carefully handed it over, making sure I could feel it in my grasp since I couldn't see it.

I also couldn't see the whole coffee shop staring at me, but I could 100 hundred percent feel them staring at me if you know what I mean? Anyway, a gal who recognized me from a class we had together followed/helped guide me to the restroom, where she then also helped me pour the milk into my eyes.

HOT MESS IN THE LIBRARY

It was a HOT MESS, y'all. My hair was soaked, my shirt was wet, and my eyes still burned. They felt a LOT better, but my vision was still blurry and my skin still felt super irritated. I didn't even get the girl's name to send her a thank you, but I did make it back to my purse and laptop, where I left them.

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I took the pepper spray off my keychain and threw it away, went back to wash my hands again, and messaged the folks I was meeting that I was now going to have to go back to my residence hall to recover from the ridiculous ordeal. It took days for my eyesight to get back to normal.

Pepper Spray Milk Remedy

I made lots of mistakes that afternoon, but I actually thought I was smart to search for milk to help ease the capsicum burning my eyeballs. I had learned it was a base that neutralized the acid in the pepper oil.  Like when you have heartburn and drink milk to make it better.

Do Not Use Milk in Your Eyes

However, as Emma recently shared, doctors do NOT recommend using milk to rinse out eye irritants. Because it is not sterile, it can play host to all kinds of nasty bacteria, making the whole situation much worse.

Infection risk aside, there is no scientific evidence that milk helps any better than water or saline. Rinsing your eyes under a stream of cold water for about 15 minutes will do the trick, and you won't have to traumatize a Starbucks worker in the process. Let's hope you never get pepper juice or spray in your eyes, but if you do, pass on the milk.