All That Glitters Isn't Gold, They Can Give You Health Issues

12 days ago

The saying "All that glitters isn't gold" is actually true because glitters aren't gold. They can be fun, sparkly, and the sweetheart of the crafting world but one thing it is not is gold. When glitters are sprayed, they can stick to fabrics and they can make us have this euphoria but trust me, glitters in the wrong place can become a problem of a lifetime.

Inhaling glitters isn't a good idea and asides inhaling, people have had health related issues when it comes to glitters. A case of glitters causing health related issue was that of a young lady who was admitted to the Swansea Singleton Hospital. The patient had a swollen eye and she also suffered loss of vision partially. Doctors thought it was a herpes infection as it had lesion with clump but when the clump was examined properly, it was seen that it was reflecting as it shined.

The doctors needed to find answers and one of the first steps is to ask the patient questions. When she was asked about when she noticed a change or discomfort in her eye, and she was able to recollect that it began when she had an encounter with a Christmas card covered with glitters. A minor procedure was done and the glitter was removed. The patient was discharged with antibiotics being prescribed.

While the lady above might have been lucky, not everyone will be lucky, and not everyone has been lucky in the past. Erica Diaz in 2016, had a piece of glitter into her eyes when she was leaning up after she and her daughter had finished their craft. The glitter although very small, did cut her cornea which became infected. This lead to Pus coming from the back of the eye. Although the patient later had cornea surgery, the pus in her eyes had grown to the point where it was putting pressure on the blood vessels of the eyes thereby not allowing the medications to numb the eye and this caused her to wake up between the surgery. At the end, she couldn't get her eyes fixed after 2 failed surgery, so the eye was removed and a prosthetic eye was fixed in replacement.

Talking about inhaling and chocking on glitters is the story of 7 year old Mauro Lopez Banegas in Argentina who mistakenly inhaled glitters that he had put into his whistle which was his birthday gift. He was rushed to the hospital where he was given medications to calm the situation but the situation took a different turn the next day and examination showed that the glitter contained Zinc and Copper blocking his ability to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide properly. His lungs failed and he went into a coma after which he died.

Glitters have been classified under microplastics because it is usually made of plastic which means it is a problem to the environment and it can be swallowed by fishes and plankton and once this microplastics become too much in the internal organs of the sea animals, they can lead to their death let's not forget the part that it can affect humans when it gets into the system of humans when we consume the animals. In solving the glitter problem, people are switching to biodegradable ones. While some glitters are marked as eye safe, it is still advisable to be careful with it when it has to do with the eye.