A toddler has been left partially blind after biting into a Persil laundry pod, forcing her to endure three intense surgeries and leaving her mum warning other parents about the hidden dangers.
Jodi, 34, from Perth, Western Australia, was left heartbroken after her four-year-old daughter, Luca de Groot, bit into the pod on March 23 while helping with the laundry. After it burst, Luca ended up smearing the detergent across her eyes. In a panic, Jodi rushed her daughter to the shower, desperately trying to rinse it out, but the pain was relentless, reported the Daily Star.
Despite several attempts to flush her eyes, Luca stayed “hysterical” and in agony, and Jodi knew something was seriously wrong. She bundled Luca into the car and raced her to the hospital, where doctors quickly realised the severity of the damage.
Photos taken later show Luca’s eyes red, swollen, and covered in blisters. The severity of the injuries kept her in the hospital for 16 days, and even after returning home, her vision is still not fully recovered, according to The Mirror.
The laundry pod, sold as Omo in Australia and Persil in the UK, is marketed as a “three-in-one capsule” with added “Comfort freshness” — but Jodi is now demanding tougher warnings after seeing first-hand the devastation it can cause.
Speaking about what happened, Jodi said: “Luca was helping me with the laundry, and I gave her the pod just to hold while I put the washing on. And by the time I’d turned around, she’d already bitten into it, and it went into her eyes. They’re quite solid, so when you pop them, they spray. And kids being kids, she rubbed her eyes, which meant it went across both eyes.”
She added: “They do look and smell quite nice. They’re attractive to kids.”
Initially thinking it would just need a bit of advice from a GP, Jodi admitted: “I put her into the shower and looked at the back of the product and it said to ‘seek medical advice’ so I didn’t think it was going to cause much of an issue. She was screaming and really upset. I noticed she wasn’t calming down, she was still hysterical.”
After calling the poison helpline, Jodi was told to head to the hospital immediately. At the hospital, doctors discovered a defect in Luca’s left eye and carried out an amniotic membrane transplant to help it heal. Although she’s avoided a fourth surgery for now, Luca still faces six to 12 months of redness and lingering vision problems.
Jodi said: “Her sight in her left eye isn’t fully there yet, but is coming back slowly. She has a slight vision impairment. It could’ve been a lot worse. It’s been pretty traumatic.”
Demanding stronger warnings on packaging, she added: “It just says ‘seek medical advice’. It’s not good enough how it is. There needs to be more awareness.”
Unilever told The Mirror: “We were deeply saddened to hear about these injuries and have spoken to Luca’s mother to understand what happened so we can investigate further. Safety is always our number one priority at Unilever.”
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