My 4yo nearly lost her eye and finger in the playground - it can happen anywhere

Doctors told the Perth mum her daughter had a case of conjunctivitis and it would sort itself out. Two days later, she was in the emergency room. Warning: Graphic images

Alexandra Feiam

3 min read

December 14, 2023 - 11:23AM

Abigail got sand in here eye and developed an infection. Source: Yahoo Australia

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An innocent trip to the playground quickly spiralled into a nightmare after a four-year-old girl nearly lost a finger and almost suffered permanent vision loss from a sandpit.

Perth four-year-old Abigail was running around the playground with other kids when she ran towards the sandpit.

She was playing in the sand when someone nearby threw sand, landing in Abigail’s eye.

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Abigail got sand in here eye and developed an infection. Source: Yahoo Australia

Doctors told mum 4yo’s infection would “sort itself out”

Speaking to Yahoo Australia, Abigail’s mum, Casey, recalled how her daughter’s eye swelled up over the next few days.

She took her daughter to the doctor but was told it “was just a bit of sand”, and although the grains were out of her eye, it had “scratched and irritated the cornea.”

Doctors told the mum-of-two her daughter had bacterial conjunctivitis and it would “sort itself out.”

But only 48 hours later, Abigail’s eye was “super inflamed” and bloodshot; the 4yo became “quite emotional” about the way it “looked and felt.”

It wasn’t only her eye that seemed to be infected. She had been rubbing her eyes with her finger, which happened to have a small cut on it, causing it to turn red and become inflamed.

Casey took her daughter back to the doctor, who gave Abigail a course of antibiotics.

“While the eye started getting better over the next couple of days, the finger went in the opposite direction,” Casey explained. “It looked like once the bacteria was in the finger, there was nowhere for it to escape to, and then the abscess appeared.”

Thirty-six hours after starting the round of antibiotics, Abigail’s finger looked worse than ever.

“You could see the infection spreading,” Casey recalled to Yahoo Australia, adding it was red and “quite hot to touch.”

They took her straight to the emergency room, where doctors planned to remove her entire fingernail. But as they sat in the hospital and Abigail was administered IV antibiotics, they witnessed the abscess on her finger turn black.

“The abscess had grown legs and her poor finger was twice the size,” Casey recalled. Thankfully, doctors safely removed her fingernail and drained the abscess, giving Abigail relief after days of distress.

“Seeing how quickly it developed, thankfully we were able to take time off work,” she said. “Had we not been in that position, we would probably have been looking at some permanent eye damage or amputation of the finger.”

Abigail's finger was swollen and hot to the touch. Source: Yahoo Australia

“You don't think of the dirtiness of public sandpits”

Abigail is now recovering back at home, but her mum is hyper-aware of the hidden dangers of children’s playgrounds.

“You don't think of the dirtiness of public sandpits and the bacteria that comes from that,” she said. “...it can happen anywhere.”

Sandpits are a wonderful place for kids to play, but they can quickly become a breeding ground for infection.

Kids and adults are urged to wash their hands before entering a public sandpit and to avoid letting animals such as dogs walk through the sand.

According to Health Line, it is very easy for small cuts and wounds to get infected if they come into contact with germs or bacteria.

It typically takes two or three days to develop an infection, and if untreated, may result in further skin infections, abscesses and necrotising fasciitis, better known as the "flesh-eating disease."