"At first, I just wanted to dye my gray hair to make myself look a little more energetic, but I didn't expect it to pain me so much that I couldn't sleep at all the whole night", said 70-year-old Ms. Wang (assumed name). Early in the morning, she walked into the Department of Ophthalmology of the Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University with tears streaming down her face and palms covering her eyes.

The reason for Ms. Wang's pain is that she accidentally put hair dye into her eyes and immediately rubbed them hard a few times. Then the pain got worse and the tears ran out of control, according to Xia Zhaoxia, Chief Physician of the Department of Ophthalmology.

Dr. Xia immediately arranged a corneal staining photograph examination. It was found that Ms. Wang suffered from conjunctival congestion, corneal injury, and large exfoliation of corneal epithelium.

Staining of cornea with epithelial damage. (Photo provided to GDToday)

For the sake of the residue of chemical components, Dr. Xia asked the nurse to flush Ms. Wang's conjunctival sac with a large amount of water, then coated her eyes with eye ointment, and applied fibroblast growth factor eye drops to promote the healing of Wang's corneal epithelium.

"In fact, this situation is rather common", said Dr. Xia. Not long ago, she also received a young patient who rushed to dye peacock-blue hair color. But the youngster was acutely allergic to hair dye, which led to allergic contact dermatitis of the eyelids and allergic conjunctivitis. 

"In the case of hair dye getting into the eyes, we should rinse our eyes with plenty of water in the first instance, and do not rub with our hands," said Dr. Xia. "If the pain is obvious, and there are symptoms like tearing or a feeling of substances rubbing the eyes, you can flush your eyes with normal saline and seek medical treatment immediately.

Tips for safe hair-dyeing

Dr. Xia reminds us that we should pay attention to protecting our eyes when dyeing hair and to avoiding dirty water containing hair dye flowing into the eyes. Here are a few tips to follow:

1. Take an allergy test before dyeing your hair or when changing your hair dye brand. Apply the prepared hair dye solution behind your ears or inside the upper arm, and then wait for 24 to 48 hours and dye your hair if there is no allergic reaction.

2. Close your eyes tightly during and after hair dyeing to avoid liquid flowing into your eyes.

3. If there is liquid in the eyes, rinse with plenty of water immediately and do not rub your eyes in case of secondary damage. If you still feel uncomfortable after rinsing, you need to see an eye doctor in a timely manner.