LANTANA, Fla., Oct. 9 (UPI) — A Florida woman said she mistook super glue for eye drops and ended up with her eye glued shut for several days.
Katherine Gaydos said her ordeal began last week when a piece of debris flew into her eye while a friend was using a leaf blower.
“Something blew into my eye and I screamed for someone else to get eye drops out of my purse and they brought super glue,” she told WPBF-TV. “As soon as I felt it in my eye I felt it burn and I closed my eye and screamed ‘Call 911.'”
Gaydos said her doctor gave her antibiotic salve and ointment, but refused to attempt to open her eye or give further treatment unless she made a payment.
“He was talking about doing surgery to try and save my eye, but now I don’t know what to do — I don’t have a job, no insurance or any money,” Gaydos said.
Gaydos said another doctor contacted her after the initial WPBF-TV report aired Wednesday and was able to pry her eye open.
“It was the same office, but a different doctor,” Gaydos said. “He put Lidocaine above and below my eye and just pulled on it until it finally opened.”
Gaydos said the second doctor told her to return Friday to remove the rest of the glue from her cornea. She said the doctor did not ask her for payment.
“He said I should get my sight back, and not have permanent damage,” Gaydos said.
Dr. Pankaj Gupta, assistant professor of ophthalmology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, said the situation would have resolved itself over time if Gaydos had not received treatment.
“The first thing I think everyone needs to know is don’t panic,” Gupta told ABC News.
“There is not a single thing that is permanent that will not slough off on its own,” he said. “In time it will go away.”
