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My girlfriend worked in eye care for years, she's seen a lot of pretty bad injuries over the years one of the worst stories though was a teenage girl who was pe
by grawprog 6y ago
My girlfriend worked in eye care for years, she's seen a lot of pretty bad injuries over the years one of the worst stories though was a teenage girl who was pepper sprayed in the face at close range. It basically disintegrated her eye balls. One of them was nearly completely gone and the other one had about 30% of its tissue remaining. She permanently lost her vision and had to undergo multiple surgeries and rehabilitation for months. The damage was worse than a patient she seen who was shot in the face with a shotgun. His vision was able to be partially restored.
- dominotw 6y agoany idea why this happened to her in particular. Was there anything special about this pepper spray.
- grawprog 6y agoNo, normal pepper spray at point blank, about an inch from her face, from a police officer arresting her.
- dekhn 6y agothere's got to be some relevant detail missing here, pepper spray wouldn't cause your eyes to disintegrate in the way you described.
- influx 6y agoI wonder if it's just from the force of the propellant at too close a range. Can't be good for the eye.
- grawprog 6y agoThis probably had a lot to do with it, I wasn't implying the tear gas itself can melt eyes. But used that way, at close range it can be more damaging than a firearm. She also ended up with some respiratory problems, but I don't know much about that, it wasn't part of my girlfriend's work.
- herewulf 6y agoOleoresin capsicum (OC) can cause a hydraulic needle effect if sprayed from too close. The velocity of the stream allows it to penetrate the eye tissue. A trained user would know the range in which it is dangerous (usually about 3 ft but depending on manufacturer, type, etc). So the police officer in question could have felt especially threatened and used it in a manner that he/she knew would be damaging or, more likely, it was an excessive use of force. However, the amount of damage you describe sounds rather exaggerated. Maybe you mean "disintegrated" corneas, not the whole eyeball?
- DanBC 6y agoSome police forces are using pepper balls in airguns, and I wonder if it's one of those? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGCLL-rxQVQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGCLL-rxQVQ
- grawprog 6y ago>describe sounds rather exaggerated. Maybe you mean "disintegrated" corneas, not the whole eyeball? That was how it was described to me. Well the words use were more like completely gone or something like that but essentially the same thing. She got a nice up close view with an opthalmic camera so...that I guess.
- hcurtiss 6y agoThere's no way this was from regular pepper spray. Maybe some kind of acid? Or blunt force?
- GaryNumanVevo 6y agoSome pepper sprays contain tear gas in liquid form. Which is also outlawed in international military conflicts.
- Balgair 6y agoPepper-spray is not just capsaicin. The capsaicin is emulsified in propylene glycol and then mixed into water and pressurized. Other emulsifiers in the past have been ethanol. The capsaicin for law enforcement use is ~2%, personal pepper-spray is about the same, though it varies more. Propylene glycol is mostly non-irritating to the eyes, even in pretty high dosages times, barring allergies to it. Likely it was the pressurization issue that just blasted the person's eyes. Meaning that the pepper-spray had to be right up in there. I would not want to take a hist from a garden hose at full blast to my eyes, let alone something like that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper_spray https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper_spray https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propylene_glycol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propylene_glycol
- joshribakoff 6y agobut its inflammatory not caustic?
- GaryNumanVevo 6y agomost police-grade pepper sprays contain either CS gas (tear gas) or xylyl bromide