What to Do if You Get Essential Oils In Your Eyes                                                      

Like many of you, I use essential oils because they’re effective, non-toxic, and generally safe for me and my family (both two-legged and four). I’ve been using oils for a number of years now, and I absolutely love them. Of course, I know that there are some cautions to their use—case in point, the oft-repeated admonition not to get them in your eyes. But honestly, that warning, along with most of the others you generally see about essential oils, seemed obvious to me. After all, who would put them in their eye, right? Ah, the folly of such flippant thoughts.

 

So we’ve established that I (and, I suspect, many of you) had no intention of getting essential oils in my eyes, period. And because of that, I never really looked into what you’re supposed to do if that somehow does happen. Because, as previously noted, that was never going to be a thing, so whatever. This is not to say there aren’t oodles of articles out there about that exact topic, but I hadn’t come across them, and truthfully, hadn’t really seen the need to look into it.

 

And then, one day, as I’m sure you suspect, my clever friends, disaster struck. I don’t remember what oil I was using, or why it was close to that part of my face, but somehow, essential oil was suddenly in my eyes. That’s right, friends—both eyes. And what I can tell you is that my eyes started burning. A lot. They were on fire. They were smoking out of my head. It was agonizing.

 

So what happened next, you ask? Well, first I panicked, obviously. Then, I did a few running laps around the house, clutching at my eyes and stumbling around like a crazy person. Then I headed for the sink to rinse my eyes out. Now, if this ever happens to you, friends, learn from my experience: do not use water to rinse the oil out of your eyes. Water intensifies the effect of essential oils. That intensifying effect is the last thing you want in this situation, trust me.

 

After those ineffective measures, I managed to stop and think, and I remembered that carrier oils dilute the effect of oils (which is why you always dilute with a good carrier oil and never water). So, I ran to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of olive oil (it was closest, but I think any type of carrier oil would’ve worked), and poured a generous amount into my cupped hand. I bent over the sink and just sort of rested my face and eye in the oil I was holding. I blinked as well as I could, but I wasn’t in a position to be able to open my eyes enough to really drop the olive oil in directly. I did that for 30 seconds or so and then switched to the other eye.

 

I kept doing that for approximately 5 minutes, until I had gotten both eyes oily (well, eyelids, I suppose, but the oil did sort of wick into my eyes). As the minutes went by, the burning lessened significantly, until I was able to open my eyes and reassure myself that I could still see. I did one more round with fresh olive oil, and the pain was gone almost completely.

 

So, my friends, if you ever get essential oils in your eyes (because hey, accidents happen, right?), get some carrier oil and use that to rinse out your eye. It will work much, much better than water, and you will turn what would otherwise be a terrible ordeal into an uncomfortable but definitely bearable situation.