A toddler has undergone three gruelling surgeries after she was left blind after biting into a Persil washing pod – prompting an alarming warning to other parents.
Jodi, 34, from Perth, Western Australia, was left devastated by the catastrophe with her four-year-old Luca de Groot. Her daughter bit into the capsule and then mistakenly wiped the liquid over her eyes, while helping her mum with the laundry.
The worried mum raced her child to the shower in a bid to wash the chemicals out. Luca was “hysterical” and struggled to calm down due to the throbbing pain on March 23. She was taken to hospital where she underwent surgery, after four attempts of flushing her eyes out had failed.
Shocking photos show Luca’s red, swollen eyes covered in painful blisters and scabs which broke out days after exposure to the detergent. After 16 days in hospital, Luca was discharged home but her sight is yet to fully return due to a visual impairment caused by the accident.
The washing capsule, sold as Omo in Australia but marketed under the name Persil in the UK, was branded as a 3 in 1 capsule with ‘Comfort freshness’. Jodi believes warnings on the packaging need to be improved in light of her daughter’s severe injuries. The sales manager, said: “Luca was helping me with the laundry and I gave her the pod just to hold while I put the washing on.
“And by the time I’d turned around, she’d already bitten into it and it went into her eyes. They’re quite solid so when you pop them, they spray. And kids being kids she rubbed her eyes, which meant it went across both eyes. She’s never had the urge to bite before. It’s very out of character for her. She helps me with the laundry a lot but doesn’t normally play with them. They do look and smell quite nice. They’re attractive to kids.
“I put her into the shower and looked at the back of the product and it said to ‘seek medical advice’ so I didn’t think it was going to cause much of an issue. She was screaming and really upset. I noticed she wasn’t calming down, she was still hysterical. I called a poison line and asked for advice and they told me to go to hospital.”
While in hospital, Luca underwent three surgeries after doctors found a defect in her left eye, before having an amniotic membrane transplant in which surgeons apply a piece of amniotic membrane to the surface of the eye to help aid her healing. After a 16-day hospitalisation, Luca was discharged but doctors believe she will have redness around her eyes for the next six to 12 months.
Jodi said: “There was a point where they thought she’d need a fourth surgery because she wasn’t opening her eyes but we managed to encourage her to open her eyes. Her sight in her left eye isn’t fully there yet but is coming back slowly. She has a slight vision impairment. It could’ve been a lot worse. It’s been pretty traumatic. It’s not easy seeing your daughter in so much pain with nothing you can do.”
Jodi believes the current warnings on the Persil and Omo packaging are ‘not good enough’, insisting that they should be changed. Jodi said: “I know [Persil] say keep them away from the kids but on the packet it doesn’t say anything about going to a hospital. It just says ‘seek medical advice’.
“It needs to be more. It’s not good enough how it is. I didn’t realise the extent of injuries they could cause. You wouldn’t think direct contact could cause pretty excessive burns, three surgeries and 16 days in hospital. There needs to be more awareness on their packaging.”
A Unilever spokesperson told The Mirror: “We were deeply saddened to hear about these injuries and have spoken to Luca’s mother to understand what happened so we can investigate further. Safety is always our number one priority at Unilever, and our laundry capsules carry child impeding closures as well as prominent on-pack safety warnings in line with industry guidelines.”
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