Posted: 5/16/2007 6:50:41 PM EDT
| This is just standard saline right? I'm looking for something to keep in my kit to flush debris from an eye. Would something like this work? |
Yup, 0.9% sodium chloride is isotonic saline. Works great for flushing eyes, wounds, etc. However, it weighs a lot, and potable water works well for short term flushing. |
I'm thinking of keeping one of the large syringes that come filled. It wouldn't weigh much and would fit in a small EDC kit. |
 I keep a mainstay water packet tied to my First Aid pouch for just this reason. If you put a small hole in it, you can get a nice controllable forced stream of clean water to irrigate wounds or eyes. (Anyone with kids knows just how far you can shoot fruit juice from a Capri Sun or Kool Aid packet) I've done this twice so far with my kids. It works great. |
That may be adequate for flusing dust and such, but you'll need a lot more fluid for flushing of any sort of chemical irritant, etc. It's also a single use item with a fairly short shelf life, and is rather bulky for what you get. For the application you're describing, potable water is probably the best overall choice. We keep a wad of those pre-filled syringes in the IV tray in the back of the rig, and have the occasional problem with the plunger on one being inadvertantly depressed, with saline sprayed into the wrap and occasionally leaking. I'm not willing to put such into my jump kit. |
I agree -- potable water is fine for this. If you absolutely have to have normal saline, pre-measure the appropriate amount of canning salt as compared to a known volume of water (such as a Nalgene bottle). Then, when the nead for NS arises, you can add your pre-weighed salt to the Nalgene full of potable water and, presto, a Nalgene full of 0.9% saline, without having to carry it around all the time. 
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That is a really good idea there. +1 |
Isotonic if done correctly, but not sterile. I would lean towards a small container of sterile normal saline or a prefilled syringe of same... |