More than 2,000 species of euphorbia exist, including succulents
like certain cacti, tropicals like Poinsettia, and flowering shrubs
and trees, both evergreen and deciduous. Particularly popular are
plants known as spurges, which tend to be drought- and
deer-resistant.
Euphorbia plants produce a white latex sap that can vary in chemical
makeup and toxicity. Since all of them require pruning, gardeners
should remember to wear gloves and eyewear when handling them.
In particular, getting sap in the eye can cause severe burning,
light sensitivity, swelling, blurry vision and watery eyes.
In the journal Eye, Katherine McVeigh of the Bristol Eye Hospital in
the UK describes a patient who came to her with inflammation and
pain, but she couldn’t figure out at first what was wrong.
“I felt unnerved when a patient presented with an excruciatingly
painful eye and minimal history,” she wrote. “She reported gardening
but denied use of any chemicals.”
Eventually, McVeigh attributed the problem to contact with euphorbia
in the patient’s garden.
With particularly toxic euphorbia sap, severe cases have included
burns in different parts of the eye, ulcers on the cornea, and
blindness, she notes in her report.
If sap does get into the eye, wash the eye with water immediately,
McVeigh advises.
“Irrigation of the eye is key when any chemical injury occurs, as it
not only dilutes the substance in question but helps to reset the pH
of the ocular surface,” she told Reuters Health by email.
Dr. David Fleischman of the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, who wasn’t involved in McVeigh’s report, has treated severe
euphorbia cases in the United States and is researching the public
health issue of euphorbia plants.
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“The most important point is raising awareness to the general public
and gardeners and to those in the medical community who may first
encounter these patients,” he told Reuters Health by email. “Cases
that are caught earlier, treated appropriately, and given close
follow-up will fare much better.”
Treatment for euphorbia is directed at rebalancing the pH in the
eye, McVeigh said. Washing out the eye and using lubricants, topical
antibiotics, eye patches and bandage contact lenses are the best
options currently.
“It is also important that parents educate their children since many
injuries that occur in the pediatric population are through play
within the garden,” she said.
“Know the plant species you’re working with, and do not rub your
eyes without carefully washing your hands after gardening,”
Fleischman said. “Remember that wiping sweat off of your brow could
sometimes inadvertently bring noxious plant matter to the eye, even
in the most well-meaning gardeners.”
Today McVeigh tells doctors and nurses, If there are few clinical
signs to diagnose an eye problem, think euphorbia and ask about the
patient’s gardening history.
SOURCE: http://go.nature.com/2fP3nvR Eye, online September 22, 2017.
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