My eyes were burning. I came out of the pool and couldn’t see. Naturally, like any eight year old, I started to cry. I had gone blind.
My scared mother rushed me to the hospital, hoping to get answers from the emergency room personal. From that day on, I would never go to a swimming pool again.
The doctor told me I had gotten an excessive amount of chlorine in my eye, which caused my temporary blindness. I couldn’t see clear for over two weeks, with my eyes bloodshot and constantly tearing.
Since the incident it's been 16 years and I have yet to enter a public pool since then.
I know what everyone is thinking, this kid is a wuss, but that feeling of blindness was traumatic. The feeling of helplessness and fear was overwhelming and I never want to feel that way again.
Of course many of you know the reason for chlorine in public pools is to kill bacteria and germs from the many people who enter the pool on a daily basis.
The biggest reason is the number of kids who decide to take a piss while in the pool but that doesn’t even scare me as much as the smell of chlorine the moment I come near a public pool.
Do you go to public pools? Has chlorine from public pools ever affect you in any way? How?
Comments (204)
I used to swim every single day for hours.
Sometimes after spending a long time in the pool, my vision would be really blurry, but it always went away by the next morning.
I still go to public pools, but like the first commenter, my vision would be faded a little bit and then come back within half an hour.
That sucks that this incident happened and hope one day, your vision will stay superb and you overcome your fear.
That is so frightening.... and I'm really sorry you had to go through that. I'm a competitive swimmer and I can't live a day without hitting the pool... I could only imagine half of how terrible that is :(
I can't imagine how scary that was...
I would have blurry vision for about a day, maybe two, but that's about it.
wow I would have freaked out!
scary.
I go swimming at least once a day, but I don't get my eyes/hair wet because it dries out my hair and causes my eyes to burn.
I need to buy goggles.
i go to the beach if i want to be in water.
I do go to public pools, and sometimes I wear goggles or keep my eyes closed, but I don't mind opening my eyes every so often. It does make my vision rather blurry for a while, but as someone else said, it's always gone by the next day, if not earlier.
oh wow, i've never heard of that happening, but obviously it did and was very traumatic; as it would be for me too if that had ever happened. i'm sorry that one incident had to ruin public pool swimming for you.
I'm so sorry that you had to go through that. I'd never set foot in a public pool again if that happened to me!
Wow, I don't blame you anyway. I always hated the feeling of getting water/chlorine in my eyes. In stings. So I pretty much always wear goggle anyway. I look like a dork, but oh well.
chlorine once changed the color of my clothes when i went into the pool.
I hate swimming. I tried to, but I seriously couldn't. Something about the pool just ... irritates me.
I work as a year round swim instructor. I'm in the pool 4 days a week, about 5 hours at the max each day.
Chlorine in pools affects me physically in a couple of ways. Hair and skin is probably the most visible. Of course, being in it a lot would do it to any one.
I'm sorry to hear about what happened to you when you were eight. Glad you're not still blind.
@kmiahali - Chlorine. when high enough, works like bleach. If the chlorine is high enough, or if you're in it long enough it'll take the color right out of your clothes, and elastic. Of course... you know that already haha. Hope they weren't your favorites. I know the pain of losing the color in a much beloved swim suit or pair of shorts.
i used to be a swimmer AND i worked as a lifeguard at the pool. they usually test out the pH of the water every few hours or so, and i always though every place did that...plus i dont know anyone who's gone temporarily blind, so it was obviously the facility's fault
i'm sorry about what happened though, because that IS pretty traumatic.
Dude, I'm a friggin swimmer. You should get friggin goggles thats what their purpose is. There's no reason to freak out. It was an event that happened a long time ago and you should learn from your mistakes.
i don't blame you for not going back into a public pool! i would probably react similarly. i never did like opening my eyes in public pools as a kid and still don't. my aunt used to put a lot in her pool so that's the only one that really burned my eyes. otherwise, i was just paranoid. i think you went into a pool that was poorly managed, resulting in excessive chlorine. i'd give another public pool a shot! bring someone with you though (for moral support i mean).
That's frightening! I'm so sorry that happened to you.
I will have to remind my kids to wear goggles!
I would never once think you are a wuss. I can imagine how something like that can be traumatic, and it's normal that you won't go into a public pool because it was something from your childhood that brings back bad feelings and memories.
I don't really like swimming in public pools simply because the chlorine is too much for me.
I hate swimming, & water in general (except to drink) because I don't like the feeling of nastiness & dryness from the removal of my skin's oils...along with that I don't like chlorine because I'm allergic to it & I sneeze & feel horrible for the rest of the day when I go in the pool. If I do swim, I prefer the salt water of the beach even though that's kinda nasty too. I'm more of a pyro anyway
Woa, sounds like they had an incredibly imbalanced PH. I'm surprised it wasn't investigated. It's difficult for me to imagine that the Chlorine was the only culprit. You must have some predisposition.
i love to swim, though im not good at it. i hate the burn of chlorine, though. so i either get goggles or i close my eyes.
I swam competitively from ages 5 to 18. The worst thing that the chlorine did was turn my hair a little green. I can imagine how traumatic that was.
Most pools use Bromine or other alternatives to chlorine now. They are not as harsh on the eyes, skin, etc.
i swam for so long in a public chlorine pool one day that when i got out of the pool, my vision was blurry for the rest of the day...