Caveat Emptor

My mom had an accident the other day and she still is recuperating from it. It all started when she went to her dentist brother on Tuesday. She was told to gargle with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) 3%. I did that before. It is FDA approved to use that solution for gargling, as it kills pathogen by supplying with massive amount of oxygen. There's also the bonus of whiter teeth. Of course, it is not recommended for prolong use as it can erode your teeth enamel.

So, what happened?

I asked Hardy to get H2O2 3% as mine is already flat (I opened the bottle months ago). In Holland you can get it in any drugstore for about €2 for 100ml without any prescription. He bought it at a drugstore near our place cause the pharmacy ran out of it. It's a small jerrycan with a small bottle cellotaped to it. On the Jerrycan it said H2O2 3% and the name of the producer, on the small bottle nothing. We thought that bottle was a bonus.

On Wednesday morning mom was going to Central Java with her sisters for 1 night. So, I told mom that she needs to gargle H2O2 for 1 minute after brushing her teeth, and to just take the small bottle when she was going to pour the Jerrycan to another bottle. She did took it with her, and off to meet my aunts.

About an hour later, I got a frantic phone call from mom at her sister's place. She asked about how the solution should work because her mouth felt on fire and began to swell rapidly eventho she swished it for less than a minute. I told her to rinse it with plenty of water and no, it should not react that way. Yes, you feel a bit prickly. Yes, it forms lots of foam especially if there r lots of anaerobe pathogens. But not burning, and not swelling.

Something went wrong. Terribly wrong.

Luckily (if you can call that lucky), one of mom's sister is a ENT doc, and she was going with her. My aunt called me to ask what kind of solution did mom use. I told her it supposed to be H2O2 3%, at least the label said so. She told me to check again with the seller. Hardy contacted them, and they didnt know what was in the small bottle, they didnt even know that you could use it to gargle. All they knew was people using it for softening ear wax, which I had no idea you could use them for. Not a good start.

We tried looking for the producer's phone number but without any luck. I called the hospital where dad used to work, and talked to their pharmacist. I was told that normally they get concentrated solution of H2O2 30-35% and diluted it with distilled water before selling it as H2O2 3%, but she has no idea how to handle the chemical burn due to the concentrate. Not something you want to hear, but at least we are getting somewhere.

I told my aunt what I knew, and she gave mom some antibiotic and painkiller plus betadine for gargling. Thank gawd mom didnt swallow anything, as it is lethal.

Mom couldnt eat, had difficulty with drinking, and is in pain because some one didnt bother to put the correct information on the stuff they are selling.

Putting a label on the small bottle would've warned us.
Putting on the label that we need to dilute it would've helped.
Putting on the label what we need to do if the chemical burns the skin would've helped.
Having a law dictating that all those above should be done by the producent would protect consumers.