Children may be at risk from washing machine capsules, a team of doctors have claimed.
Doctors issued the warning after six children aged 18 months to three years were treated for eye injuries in the Republic.
In each case the child had squeezed a capsule containing liquid detergent causing it to burst. Four children suffered serious eye damage when the detergent sprayed into their faces.
The popular capsules may be round or square in shape and are designed to dissolve in the wash, releasing their detergent. But their shape and "squishy" texture make them fascinating to children, the four doctors told the medical publication The Lancet.
The team, led by Dr Noel Horgan from the Children's University Hospital in Dublin, wrote in a letter to the medical journal: "These products are designed to be placed directly in a washing machine, and since the detergent is enclosed, they may appear safer. However, the tablets are of ideal size and consistency to be of interest to young children, who may instinctively squeeze them.
The children were all treated at the Our Lady's over a period of six months. They suffered damage to the cells lining the cornea, the "window" covering the front of the eye.
Four had also sustained significant injuries to the conjunctiva, the thin transparent layer of tissue that surrounds the eye. Their injuries eventually healed, but the doctors said more serious damage may have occurred if water had not been promptly splashed over their eyes.