There are plenty of things I don’t record on this blog, and under usual circumstances, this probably would have been one of them.

Embarrassing accidents are something I usually avoid talking about, instead hoping to banish them to a memory-hole where they will be promptly forgotten.

But seeing as things appear to be pretty alright a week later, I thought today I’d use this space to do a little Public Service Announcement.

I’ve known for years that swan plant (Gomphocarpus physocarpus, also known as milkweed or—apparently—”hairy balls”, pictured above) can lead to blindness if you get the sap in your eye. I’ve always been really careful about it.

Or, at least, I thought I was.

Weeds

Back in November I planted my peanuts under a large mature swan plant.

That plant threw seeds all around the garden, but hundreds landed below the tree itself, right where I planted all those peanuts.

As the season progressed, the swan plants grew amongst my peanuts, and I never did anything about it.

So by the time I came to harvesting this year’s peanuts, I needed to pull out most of those swan plants to reach my harvest.

I wore gloves, sunscreen, and a hat. What I didn’t count on was the sweating.

I often use the back of my glove to mop my brow. It’s not the best habit, but needs must and sweat dripping into my eye (especially when mixed with a sunscreen) stings.

And I think what happened is there was swan plant sap on my glove. I used the glove to mop my brow. Then the sap got into my eye.

Symptoms

The first symptom was feeling like I had something in my left eye. Like some dirt flicked up into it. At first it was irritating. Then it began to sting.

I couldn’t sit still, trying to find whatever was causing the discomfort.

It struck me that maybe this could be swan plant sap, and I might be in big trouble. So I decided to break out a single-use eyewash which we keep handy in the first aid kit, basically for reasons like this.

After flushing out my eye, I had immediate relief. The pain subsided from a sharp pain to a dull ache on the outside of my eye. I took a couple of paracetamol, popped the eye bath in the fridge, and took a nap.

On waking up, I rinsed out my eye again and went out to check the pest traps.

Ongoing effects

It was on this trip I noticed something that quite honestly scared the living crap out of me. I wasn’t in pain, but the affected eye had a milky film over everything. It wasn’t visible on my eye when I looked at it in a mirror, but it was affecting my vision itself.

Anywhere I looked with my left eye was “milky”. The right eye was perfectly normal. Using both eyes at once was quite confusing.

After checking the traps I got back into the cabin and looked at a lightbulb. The affected eye was producing a halo of rainbow around sources of light too.

Before I went to bed I tried to read up on some recipe ideas and found I was incapable of focussing on a page. If I closed the ‘bad’ eye, the ‘good’ eye could read. But together, it became absolute gobbledegook.

I rinsed out the eye again before bed. I was scared, and hoping time and my magic eyewash would heal it.

I was prepared to seek help if I needed to. But it was the weekend, I am the only driver in our household, we live 45 minutes drive from the nearest emergency department, and life was just going to be much easier if I didn’t need to. If things hadn’t improved, I absolutely would have been calling my GP when they opened on Monday.

The next day, things were less milky, though still out-of-focus. The rainbow-halo was still around the light, but not as strong. I rinsed out the eye again and tried to get on with my day.

Slow improvement

Over the next 2-3 days, I continued to rinse out the eye a couple of times a day. It improved to the point where I started to forget about it.

Here we are a week later and the eye is back to normal. No pain, no milky film, no rainbows, and full ability to focus.

But it was pretty close, and it was scary. I have absolutely adored the hoarde of monarch butterflies that have been present in my garden all summer because of the abundance of swan plant, but the potential for those plants to blind you is real.

If my experience saves one other person from also experiencing this, then it’s worth publishing the story.

I originally purchased that eyewash because it pays to have a range of first aid supplies when you live so far from medical assistance. I need to replace it now, and you can bet your life I’m making that a priority.

My advice

First and foremost, please be aware that the sap from swan plant really can make you blind if you get it in your eye. It’s no joke. This happened to me because of a drip of contaminated sweat.

So avoid allowing the plant to get to such plague-like proportions in your garden to begin with by weeding out unwanted plants while they’re still small. 

Secondly, if you have swan plant in your garden, I’d recommend caution while working with it. Even though I was cautious, I wasn’t cautious enough. Wear gloves while handling them, and don’t touch your face with those gloves!

And finally, make sure you include eye care in your home first aid kit. This is the one we had in ours. It’s $8 at Chemist Warehouse and I was incredibly grateful it was there when I needed it.

If you suspect you’ve got swan plant sap in your eye, wash your eye with an eye wash immediately, and if possible, seek professional help.

Don’t be me.