Friday 6 May 2011

The Perils of Antibacterial Soap

Recently I got new glasses and contacts. Now this is the first time I’ve ever worn contacts, and when the allergens are NOT driving me insane and mucking them up, I love my contacts.



Anyone who has worn contact lenses knows you should wash your hands well before putting them in or taking them out. If you don’t, you can get all sorts of microscopic nasties in your eyes. Anyway, the other day I was getting ready to do some housework, and since my glasses irk the pee out of me by sliding around on my nose when I’m busy, I washed my hands with the antibacterial soap I keep in the bathroom, dried them, and inserted the first contact lens.

Hmm, that stung a li’l bit.

Second contact was inside out, so I had to pause a moment and flip it around. I popped it in my eye and…

Oh, hell, that stings….

No, no! That burns!

Dang that burns A LOT!

Blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink…

I quit blinking. That should do it.

Hell, no! It still burns! So I start blinking again, tears are pouring, and I'm worrying the contact will flush out of my eye and land on the sink or on the floor.

Blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink…

By that time, the burning stopped. Well, sort of.

However, my nose was running so darn bad I thought I was going to have to put on my Sketchers Shape-Ups and chase the darn thing down.

Lunch time, so I headed to the kitchen with my nose still running. Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff…

Scrounging for something to eat, I found shells and cheese, but they needed some milk and cheese added. I got out a jar of soft cheese, scooped some out, put it in the noodles, but got some on my fingers.

Well, I did what any normal person would do. I stuck my finger in my mouth to lick off the cheese.

B.L.E.C.H!!!

YUCK!

OMG, that tasted horrible!

No wonder my eyes stung like crazy when I put my contact lenses in. My finger tasted like antibacterial soap. I hadn’t gotten all the soap washed off my hands.

Lesson well learned.

And lemme tell ya, the taste of antibacterial soap is a bitch to get out of your mouth. I even rinsed my mouth with burnt coffee—no, let’s not go there, long story—and that didn’t even help.

So then I had the taste of soap AND burnt coffee in my mouth.

Anyone got some cinnamon candy disks or gum?

18 comments:

Lisa Alexander Griffin said...

LOL! Faith, you gotta make sure your hands are rinsed really well, and then sometimes the eyes still burn when you insert a contact. If that happens, just flush them out with multi-purpose solution or saline solution. Usually solves the problem. I've worn contacts for twenty-five plus years and allergies are the worst part for me.

Faith Bicknell said...

I have some of that solution, but my eyes were tearing so badly I couldn't even seen to get the cabinet open and find the li'l bottle, lol. Ivory uses it too, so it's hard telling where it'll be when I need it.

Ugh, aren't the allergens just horrid? I can put my contacts in, and within ten min or less, they're already getting blurry and gummy from all the pollen flying around. Now that the apple tree isn't blooming, the pollen isn't nearly as bad as it was.

Emmy Ellis said...

I feel if I LOL it sounds like I'm being mean and finding your predicament funny...

Umm...LOL?

:o)

Lisa Alexander Griffin said...

Spring is the worst, Faith. All the pollen just sticks to them. lol. When I come inside I have to rinse mine off with solution. But, just remember, this too, will pass. ;)

Faith Bicknell said...

LMAO! Laugh away, Em. I laugh at myself all the time, and this was one of them!

Faith Bicknell said...

Lisa, I seems like I'm always rinsing my contacts off, but now that most of the pollen is slacking off, I await hay cutting time! LMAO! Oh, and don't even get me started on cutting the grass.

Lisa Alexander Griffin said...

I hear you, Faith. I've been working outside this weekend, getting the garden ready. If I'm not sneezing and coughing, my eyes are watering or fogged over. :)

T said...

Eeew! My eyes are watering in sympathy, and you just ruined my coffee!

Faith Bicknell said...

ROFL! Sorry about that, T!

Marci Baun said...

I am lucky not to need glasses or contacts. And I don't use anti-bacterial soap, but I won't get into my reasons why because, well, I don't have time. LOL I have to get my nose back to the grindstone and send out those quarterly reports. I'll be done... soon.

Leigh Royals said...

Been there, done that. FYI, sometimes, glasses slipping while gardening is better. You may not want to know how I learned that. Ever had the whites of your eye not white because of either mascara you poked in there or dirt you rubbed in...

Leigh Royals said...

Oh, and never take/put in contacts after using the topical ointment with camphor in it!

Lorie Shewbridge said...

Laughing so hard at this post, but not AT you, WITH you because I have been there/done that.
Hate that runny nose bit, it's almost as annoying as the burning eyes.
I like to use good old Ivory soap before handling my contacts.
Hope you are doing better with your allergies.

Janice Seagraves said...

Ugh, that sounds so awful. The worst thing that happened to me was rubbing my eyes after cooking and cleaning hot peppers for salsa. I was crying for an hour or three.

I refuse to get contacts. I have allergies eyes way too often for the contracts to do me any good, plus I have to wear bi-focals now.

The eye doctor tried to talk me into wearing distance sight contact in one eye and close-up in the other.

Yeah, sure, I'd be either wall eyed or cross eyed.

Janice~

Starfox Howl said...

You should use bar soap, the non-antibacterial type. Get's your hands just as clean and you don't run the risk of breeding super-germs. If you need to sanitize your hands for some reason, use a product especially for that.

Faith Bicknell said...

Leigh, I learned not to put my fingers in my eyes period of I've been handling something. Like Janice said above, I made the mistake of rubbing my eyes after picking jalapeno peppers and Ben Gay another time even though I thought I had it washed off. Ouch is an understatement, lol. However, I never dreamed I didn't get my hands rinsed well enough from the soap. At least the sting of antibacterial soap goes away, lol.

Lori, Ivory soap is the soap of soaps! And what's cool about it is that it was an accident.

Janice, lol @ walleyed and crosseyed!

Morning Starfox! Yeah, I do know what you mean. However, I purchased the antibacterial soap for the bathroom because we passed one virus after another, including strep, back and forth since about December. One thing I hate about antibacterial soap is that it dries my hands out something terrible, so I'm looking for my bottle of lotion right after I dry my hands.

Fiona McGier said...

Yeah, like Faith, my husband once chopped up some jalepeños, then washed his hands really well, then tried to put his contacts in...big mistake! I guess the tiny microscopic pieces are like burrs, the kind that stick on you and your dog after a walk in the woods...and they poke into your eyes something fierce! Of course that's why they are good for your digestive system, but that's another blog.

Faith Bicknell said...

Fiona, I find it amazing how nature has all these li'l tricks to make sure it survives. Microscopic burrs or barbs? Ouch!