Brianne Shipley took to TikTok to warn others about the importance of keeping medical products well-organized
Brianne Shipley/TikTok
Brianne Shipley after getting nail glue in her eye
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A Florida woman mistook a bottle of nail glue for her medicated eye drops
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Brianne Shipley shared her story on TikTok, along with video of how doctors helped her flush the product out of her eye
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Now, Shipley is opening up about the importance of keeping medical products organized
A woman has gone viral on TikTok after sharing that she mistakenly put nail glue, instead of medicated eye drops, into her eyes — leading to a hospital visit and a warning to others about the importance of keeping medical products well-organized.
Brianne Shipley was half-asleep on Oct. 31 when her Amazon Alexa device notified her that it was time to apply her eye drops.
Shipley, who lives in central Florida, had recently been prescribed the drops for a bacterial infection. As a first-time eye drop user, they weren’t a part of her regular routine — but she kept them on her nightstand so she could apply as directed, every few hours.
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Courtesy of Brianne Shipley
Brianne Shipley
“After I got the notification, I blindly reached over, grabbed the bottle, opened my eye with one hand and put the drops in,” she tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview.
She continues: “As the drop was falling I realized the consistency of the plastic bottle felt wrong. As soon as it hit my eye, I started screaming.”
That’s when Shipley realized that she had reached for her nail glue — an adhesive product she kept around the house for arts and crafts projects — instead of the eye drops.
Her 17-year-old son woke up in the neighboring bedroom, as Shipley was screaming at her phone, “Siri, call 911!”
“That first 10 minutes was just huge panic — I didn’t know what was going to happen,” she says.
Her son did a quick Google search, telling Shipley to flush her out with water as best she could. She used the sink and then the shower to try to get as much of the product out as she could before they headed for the nearest hospital.
“Flushing it with water did provide a little relief and did release the eye — it had initially been glued shut,” she says, adding that doctors later told her that that first at-home step had been “crucial” in ensuring further damage wasn’t done.
Courtesy of Brianne Shipley
Brianne Shipley’s eye drops and nail glue
“That drive to the hospital was the worst pain — it was just burning, on fire, it felt like rocks in my eye,” she says.
Once at the hospital, doctors immediately brought Shipley into an exam room, where she says she could see, but her vision was “blurry” and looking at any lights led to a burning sensation.
“The doctors and nurses were very helpful, and immediately numbed it with eye drops,” she says. “Then they looked for tears and abrasions and used a Q-tip to fish the hardened shards of glue out.”
Next, doctors used a Morgan Lens — a plastic, sterile device that helps with drainage.
“The acid in the nail glue had altered the pH level of my eye, so they had to get all that out,” Shipley says. “That flush took 30 to 45 minutes.”
After that, hospital staff sent Shipley home with a medicated ointment to allow her eye to continue to heal.
“I was so embarrassed when I got to the hospital but the doctor told me this happens a lot more than you think,” she tells PEOPLE.
She adds that she went public with her story on TikTok in the hopes that she could alert others to the fact that it’s easy to make a mistake when it comes to smaller bottles of medical products like eye drops.
“I knew I would be embarrassed and there would be stupid comments, but it was more about letting people know: keep this stuff separate,” she says. “I was a first time eye drop user so I didn’t think about it but now, I keep all my medications separate.”
