Study Finds Dispensers Squirting Hand Sanitizer into Children’s Eyes

To help protect building occupants from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, many facility managers have placed dispensers that distribute hand sanitizer in schools, stores, transportation areas, and other public buildings. A study found that improper placement of these dispensers is causing children to accidentally get hand sanitizer in their eyes, CNN reports.

The study, published in the JAMA Ophthalmology journal, looked at whether there was an increase in severe ocular lesions associated with alcohol-based hand sanitizer exposures in children since March 2020. Researchers analyzed French Poison Control Center data from a pediatric ophthalmology referral hospital in Paris, France. They found there were seven times more cases of alcohol-based hand sanitizer eye exposures reported from April 1 to August 24, 2020 compared to the previous year—9.9% in 2020 versus 1.3% in 2019. Additionally, 16 children under the age of four were admitted to a Paris hospital due to hand sanitizer exposure in their eyes; two severe cases required amniotic membrane transplant.

Researchers determined children were getting spattered in the eyes with hand sanitizer because the dispensers are three feet in height, which is eye level for young children.

“With the current widespread use of hand sanitizer in public places, it is not unexpected that young children would be drawn to these dispensers, many of which appear to be inadvertently designed to facilitate contact between the hand sanitizer and young eyes,” said Kathryn Colby, MD, from the Grossman School of Medicine’s department of ophthalmology at New York University in a commentary that accompanied the research.

The researchers recommended the following practices:

• Parents and teachers should instruct children on the safe use of hand sanitizer
• Building managers should consider placing separate dispensers for children, preferably at a lower height (below face level)
• Managers should also place caution signs next to sanitizer dispensers in public spaces.