Drowsy Mom Mistakes Nail Glue for Eyedrops, Glues Eye Shut

Parents getting distracted can cause millions of people to laugh. This is a universal truth filmmakers have exploited for decades. Think of a bleary Michael Keaton feeding an infant chili in Mr. Mom (to his instant and everlasting regret) or poor Kevin getting left behind by his oblivious forebears in Home Alone. But even the strangest comic mind couldn't have thought up this real-life storyline. That's why there is TikTok. In a video viewed more than 4.4 million times, California mother Jennifer Eversole revealed that she accidentally glued her eye shut after mistaking nail glue for eye drops. "Well, I've gone and done it. I have won the most idiot person award," said Eversole. Read on to find out how and why.

In the video, Eversole is seen in the emergency room, holding a cold pack to one eye. "My eyedrops sit directly next to super glue, and they are same-sized bottles," she said, sort of laughing, crying, or both. "I wasn't paying attention. I got distracted by my daughter"—she paused to move the compress away—and now my eye's glued shut!"

Both of Eversole's eyes appear red and teary in the video. She explained that trying to open her perma-sealed eye irritated the other. "I can't really open up this other eye because it makes this eye move, and it's all scratchy and itchy," she said. "What an idiot! What an idiot!"

The injury necessitated her being taken to the ER by ambulance. "Now I'm sitting here crying because I have no idea why. I just feel so stupid," she said, breaking out into more laughter and crying. The mother of six reported asking medical workers if they'd ever treated someone with a similar injury. "No," they replied. 

Some commenters asked Eversole the critical question: How could she have mistaken nail glue for eye drops?  In a follow-up video, Eversole explained that she had given her daughter a manicure and left the nail glue bottle, identical to the eye drops, on her bedroom dresser.

"My daughter wanted to have fake nails, and she's a teenager, so I did glue and press-ons," she said. "My mistake is that I didn't put it away afterward, and I remember thinking I should probably put that away so that nobody mistakes those eye drops. Which is exactly what happened."

Eversole displayed the bottle of allergy eye drops she uses regularly and claimed the glue bottle was the same size and shape, only with a red cap. She confessed that she wondered why the eye drops weren't coming from the container. So she squeezed the bottle harder to dispense the substance inside, thus avoiding an opportunity to "save herself."

That caused her to experience "intense burning, really bad burning," which "felt hot," so she shut her eye tight. "I don't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing because it didn't get on my eyeball that much," she said. "And maybe it wouldn't have glued my eyes shut if I hadn't shut them, but I don't know what would have happened."

Ultimately, doctors in the emergency department had to cut her eyelid open, which resulted in days of uncomfortable recovery, Eversole said, noting that she is now healing, although she still was experiencing blurry vision and "it still feels like I have 1,000 grains of sand in my eye if I look to the right."

"I'm glad it wasn't worse," she said. "I couldn't imagine what would happen if I actually lost my eye." Eversole said she planned to switch brands to brush-on nail glue, making it less likely she would apply adhesive to her eyeball in the near future. 

Commenters on Eversole's videos offered criticism and commiseration. "Common sense ain't common is what she meant to say," said one commenter. "Moral of the story: Don't procrastinate, if you're going to do something don't wait til later," wrote another. "After I had my twins, I was dead tired and I once put Desitin on my toothbrush!!! Mom brain! Girl, I feel you!" one woman said.

"I'm gonna be honest, I would probably do this too," another commenter confessed."I have brush in glue for this very reason. My old glue looked just like my eye drops bottle," one woman said.  "My husband put ear drops in his eye once," another offered.