What Happens If Paint Gets in Your Eyes

Chemical is harmful to our skin, and there should be no doubt about it. When the topic is not only about skin but also eyes, anything can irritate our eyes. When we do our daily chores at home, we may feel irritation or irritation in the eyes. Most of the time, it occurs when the eyes come in contact with household cleaning solutions, smoke or paint. Since it is a matter of worry, many want to know what happens if paint gets in my eyes?

Paints are made from chemicals. Some chemicals are so harsh. If paint gets in your eyes, you may become blind, or your eyes may damage a little bit. We cannot assure you that all brands provide non-toxic ingredients in their paints. In this article, we will discuss every possible answer to your question in detail.

Are Paints Harmful to Health?

Paints are chemically produced. Though they are chemical, we can’t say they are harmful. It is not uncommon for the paint to stick to the body while painting. If the paints are in your hands, your hands will not rot. You will be safe. At the maximum, you can feel some irritation. But our health is not only the skin. Skin is just a part of our body and health. Paint cannot damage our skin deadly, but some sensitive areas can be damaged hardly if they come in contact with the paint.

If we find the deep side of the paint, then we can say if the paint is safe or not. Paint is a pigment dissolved in a solvent. It includes many ingredients. We mainly use indoor paints to décor our bathroom, kitchen and home walls. There are two types of indoor paints –

• Water-based paints.
• Oil-based paints. 

In water-based paints, water is the primary solvent. On the other hand, organic solvents are used in oil-based paints. We don’t have any headaches about which solvent is used in the paint, but we have to check the VOC. VOC means volatile organic compounds. It tells us the percentage of organic solvent used in the paint. Exposure to VOC can sometimes have short-term health effects. If the VOC is high in any paint, that has a long-term impact. 

What should we do in that case? We should check the VOC level while buying paint. Low-VOC and no-VOC are safe for health and available in stores. You will get the idea of VOC in the product label section. If you buy a pint with high VOC, you are in danger.

Side Effects of Paints

The side effects of the paint depending on the chemical level used in the product. Also, various factors determine how much paint will affect our health. These issues are given below-

• Level of indoor chemical air.
• User’s age.
• The length of time the user is exposed to paint.
• User medical condition.
• Personal sensitivities.

Every aspect here will consider how much paint affect you by its side effect. The side effects of paint on our health are given – 

• Inflammation of the lungs
• Headache
• Dizziness
• Breathing issues
• Vision problems.
• Skin irritation.

The most dangerous of these problems are lung inflammation and vision problems. Paints do have not much of an effect on young and middle-aged people. They are not easily infected by paint, but the situation can be serious for the elderly. 

Keeping the color open overnight is also harmful. That can be mixed with the air in the house. In that case, we have already answered the question, can you leave the paint on the airless sprayer overnight?

Can Paints Damage My Eyes?

Although you have seen many paint brands advertise their paints as safe and non-toxic, we cannot trust their ads 100%. The VOC layer helps us to detect toxic levels in the paint. It doesn’t matter if the paint is safe or not; the truth is we know it’s chemical. We cannot consider any chemical safe for our eyes. A chemical more or less damages your eyes, even if you can go blind with them.

You can clean or remove one drop of paint from your eyes by taking some fast-cleaning steps, but more than two drops of paint are critically injurious to your eyes. The paints advertised as safe are considerable. But you may don’t know many old paints contain lead, which is extremely dangerous for human eyes. Not only blind but lead can lead to death also. 

That means old paints can damage your eyes within a short time. So, you better keep your eyes away from paint if you don’t know the paint’s VOC level. So, you must know how the chemical affects your health and eyes. Expert says acrylic paints are non-toxic and safe. If you want to use acrylic paint, look at acrylic paint vs satin paint to make eye safety preparation.

How to Protect Your Eyes from Paint?

You can protect your eyes from paint by using goggles. Goggles cover your eyes during mixing paints, cleaning paints and painting. However, you can also try a face respirator to cover your face and your eyes. Both are good for protecting your eyes from harmful chemical paints. 

What to Do If I get Paint in My Eyes?

Paint can damage your eyes, no matter whether it is safe or toxic. We can’t take a chance with any chemical item when it is risky for our eyes. So, if the paint accidentally falls over the eyes, you must take some crucial steps as soon as possible. Here is the guideline – 

• Rinse your eyes with lukewarm, clean water minimum of 20 minutes.
• Close your eyes and give some rest also for 20 minutes.
• Go for a medical checkup if you feel any pain. 

FAQs

Final Verdict

If you love this article, then share it with your painter friends. If you find this article helpful, tell us which steps you take to get rid of paint fumes. Hopefully, we have been able to explain to you what happens if paint gets in your eyes. 

Cover yourself before you start crafting. If you accidentally get paint on your eyes, rinse with water and seek emergency care from an eye specialist. Tell your doctor about paint chemicals and start your treatment as soon as possible.

If you are facing similar challenges with your car, you may find this article relevant for learning about removing house paint from the car body.