Mum issues warning after toddler, 4, left BLIND after biting into Persil washing pod

A mum has issued a warning to other parents after her four-year-old daughter was blinded by biting into a Persil washing machine pod. The child's mother, 34-year-old Jodi from Perth, Western , said that her daughter Luca de Groot bit into the pod while helping her mum with the , and then rubbed the liquid that spilled out over her eyes. Jodi then raced to the shower with her child to try to wash the liquid out of her eyes.

Luca was "hysterical", Jodi said, and struggled to calm down due to the pain. The incident happened on March 23 and the four-year-old girl was brought to hospital where four attempts at flushing the liquid out of her eyes were made. She was then put through surgery after initial efforts of removing the liquid failed. The injured toddler ended up spending 16 days in hospital and was eventually discharged but her sight is yet to return to normal after the accident.

Photos show Luca's red and wollen eyes which were covered in blisters and scabs which emerged days after the incident. The capsule that she bit into was branded as a 3 in 1 capsule with 'Comfort freshness', sold as Omo in Australia but marketed under the name Persil in the UK.

Following the incident, Jodi said that she believes warnings need to be improved on packaging. "Luca was helping me with the laundry and I gave her the pod just to hold while I put the washing on," she said.

"And by the time I'd turned around, she'd already bitten into it and it went into her eyes. They're quite solid so when you pop them, they spray. And kids being kids she rubbed her eyes, which meant it went across both eyes. She's never had the urge to bite before. It's very out of character for her. She helps me with the laundry a lot but doesn't normally play with them. They do look and smell quite nice. They're attractive to kids."

She continued: "I put her into the shower and looked at the back of the product and it said to 'seek medical advice' so I didn't think it was going to cause much of an issue. She was screaming and really upset. I noticed she wasn't calming down, she was still hysterical. I called a poison line and asked for advice and they told me to go to hospital."

Jodi has been told that her daughter will have redness and swelling around her eyes for the next six to twelve months. Luca underwent three surgeries in hospital before she had an amniotic membrane transplant.

This procedure involves applying a piece of amniotic membrane to the surface of the eye to help aid its healing. Jodi revealed: "There was a point where they thought she'd need a fourth surgery because she wasn't opening her eyes but we managed to encourage her to open her eyes. Her sight in her left eye isn't fully there yet but is coming back slowly. She has a slight vision impairment. It could've been a lot worse. It's been pretty traumatic. It's not easy seeing your daughter in so much pain with nothing you can do."

Describing the current warning on the capsule packaging as "not good enough", Jodi said: "I know [Persil] say keep them away from the kids but on the packet it doesn't say anything about going to a hospital. It just says 'seek medical advice'.

"It needs to be more. It's not good enough how it is. I didn't realise the extent of injuries they could cause. You wouldn't think direct contact could cause pretty excessive burns, three surgeries and 16 days in hospital. There needs to be more awareness on their packaging."

A Unilever spokesperson told : "We were deeply saddened to hear about these injuries and have spoken to Luca's mother to understand what happened so we can investigate further. Safety is always our number one priority at Unilever, and our laundry capsules carry child impeding closures as well as prominent on-pack safety warnings in line with industry guidelines."