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Saline |
Saline solutions are often used by emergency personnel to give fluids intravenously (from a bag through a needle in your arm, for example) and to give gastric lavage when a poison has been ingested.
A more common everyday use of saline is for the rinsing of contact lenses.
Saline solutions can also be used to rinse the eyes to relieve irritation or remove foreign objects and/or chemicals. The water in emergency eye wash bottles may or may not be saline, but should contain a chemical preservative of some sort to prevent the growth of bacteria, fungus, algae, and acanthamoeba which could result in an eye infection. Note that simple eye wash bottles, while they may provide some immediate relief in an emergency, have a very limited capacity and do not meet ANSI or OSHA requirements for emergency eye washes. See the link to Guardian Equipment under Further Reading or our entry on eye washes for more on ANSI eye wash requirements.
| ![]() Get ANSI-compliant eye washes at Safety Emporium. |
See also: catharsis, electrolyte, eye wash, halogen, intravenous.
Entry last updated: Monday, August 22, 2016. This page is copyright 2000-2019 by ILPI. Unauthorized duplication or posting on other web sites is expressly prohibited. Send suggestions, comments, and new entry desires (include the URL if applicable) to us by email.
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