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How to treat sodium hydroxide burn on the skin?

By Guest | 70 posts, last post
Chris Smith, MD answered this General Management Of Chemical Burns
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Guest


I have a MSDS for Sodium hydroxide - It does not mention vinegar. You have it backwards! It's only OK with dilute Sodium hydroxide, otherwise it causes worse burns.
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Guest


.. I have worked with Sodium Hydroxide for 14 years Vinegar is the best solution to stop the burn... Then wash in water for 15 mins.. I have had several accidents with it... Vinegar works... Most people who work with lye on a regular basis
have vinegar on the same shelf..
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Guest


hi my name is faisal. i am working in a pharmacuitical compny. raw mattrial store.i was handling a sodium hydrooxide bag.bag was closed just some of the hydrooxide touch my hands minorly...after i goes to w room to wash the hands.befor that i go to toilet.i wash the penis while using the toilet suddnly i feel something on m penis skin befor eriction was good after this i got slow erictin..i am worrying..

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Guest


This really depends on what form the caustic soda is in. If it is in solid form the procedure would be lots of water first.... then vinegar if needed. if it is in solution (such as a commercial cleaning product) then vinegar is by far the better option.
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keith

I am firefighter . had direct contact with about a gallon of Drano directly fortunate enough to have closed my eyes at the exact moment. My lips and gums swelled, busted and bled instantly. Flushed with water, burned even worse. That's little normal. Then read label. It said to neutralize exposure with vinegar it also burned a little bit more which is also normal. that was the best thing I did it neutralize it I had no sores no swelling and no scarring to the face.then I rinsed to the water again for about 10 more minutes , that rinsing was actually a couple hours after the vinegar while I was at the hospital. The vinegar Actually neutralize it and literally stopped it from eating my face. I also need to thank the makers of Drano for putting that on their labelbecause if they didn't my face will be completely disfigured. once again after I use the vinegar I had no swelling , no sores my face was barely even red.
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Guest


Actually adding water to Sodium Hydroxide can cause a very exothermic reaction, causing potentially extreme thermal burning. Best thing to use is milk, as the Sodium Hydroxide will hydrolyse the fat and protein in the milk, minimising the effect on the skin. However this can also cause an exothermic reaction and should only be used as an emergency measure. If the initial chemical burn is severe of disabling, go to the ER or call an Ambulance IMEDIATELY.
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Guest


Vinegar will neautrilise the alkalinity of the caustic soda. So vinegar will definately work
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Science ™

I'm taking chemistry right now. Water is not a weak-acid, its pH at 7 neutral. NaOH never react with water. It just pulled down the M ( molarity density), means that it decease ability corrode.
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Guest

NO!! Read those MSDS!! Rinse with water, water and more water but don't put vinegar on it.  Good grief...with water, you are trying to remove any lye from your body.  You have to rinse it.  Vinegar for neutralizing is recommended for surfaces...not your skin.  I run a soaping group with right at 3000 members.  The one thing we all use is lye.  The one thing we all know is that myth of using vinegar needs to go away and people need to actually READ those MSDS.   It says RINSE WITH WATER.


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Guest

I'm researching lye safety right now (in regards to soap making) because I see SO MANY people recommending vinegar when NOT A SINGLE MSDS does. Using vinegar is a myth spread by people who mean well but don't know any better. REFER TO MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEETS for proper use, proper storage and proper emergency procedures!!!
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Guest

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/12711953/

This article proves that house hold vinegar helps neutralize an alkaline burn faster than flushing with water will. Since in fact house hold vinegar is a weak acid, not exceeding the hydronium concentration of 5% acetic acid.

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Guest

who should i contact because i just started working with sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide and im itching like crazy my skin is screwed up i was not told anything at all
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Guest

Vinegar contains 5% of a WEAK acid, acetic acid.
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Guest

You are not going to pass chemistry. Water is an amphoteric molecule, it ionises and acts as a weak acid in the presence of a base (and a weak base in the presence of an acid).
When solid sodium hydroxide dissolves in water it is a highly exothermic reaction.
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Guest

I work at a refinery and we flush with water and only use vinger to see if caustic is still present if so it will burn (sting) if it does that keep rinsing and apply vinger with cloth again when you are able to put Vining er on with no burning you are good to go
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