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Boric acid -- safe for humans?




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My sister's doctor told her about boric acid [affil links] eye solution when my nephew was small. It clears conjunctivitis up quickly without the use of antibiotics. You use one teaspoon to one cup of water boil in glass measuring cup in a pan of water for 5 minutes. Let it cool well before ever using in the eye. Use a sterile cotton ball to drip in the eye. Do not dip cotton ball in solution again. Solution is good for 24 hours. Make New solution daily.

Boric Acid did have a recipe on the bottle just a few years ago. You could find it in most any pharmacy. When I asked about it at the pharmacy yesterday they had never heard of it.

I used it for my children for years. Works great.

Heather Sortore
- Kansas City, Missouri
September 3, 2008



I am currently using Boric acid eyewash to treat a horse at the riding stable where I volunteer. I found it at one drug store but the other seems to only carry the Boric Acid used for insect control and that is NOT the right kind for medicinal use. The label will tell you it contains "inert ingredients" -- BEWARE!

Ask the pharmacist if you can't find it. At my drug store it was in the "First Aid" section and we both had to hunt a bit to find the little brown bottle.

Don't let the word "acid" scare you; vinegar and salt are both acids, too, and we use them -- even love them -- in food. :)

Anna Green
- Buffalo, New York
September 10, 2008


I have had red eyes for the past year and have gone to many eye doctors over this. So many different eye drops have been prescribed to me and nothing has worked- until boric acid. My grandmother used to make a boric acid eyewash for the cat when his eyes were runny (you know how pets get little eye infections). She'd just dip a cotton ball in it and rub it over the cat's eyelids and it would clear right up. I started to wonder if this may work for me. I did some research over the internet and talked to my pharmacist about making an eyewash for myself. I ordered it through the pharmacy (it was only $4.99) and it arrived the next day. I boiled one quart of water one tablespoon of boric acid for 10 minutes, then let it cool and poured it into a clean, never used plastic bottle. (Use distilled/spring water instead of tap because of all the chemicals in tap such as chlorine, mercury, soap ash, etc.) I pour the solution into an eyewash cup (which you can get at the drug store)and open my eyes wide and roll them around. It's so soothing and feels so nice. My eyes aren't red anymore. Thank god for this very common, house hold miracle drug!

Jessica Lambert
- Knoxville, Tennessee
September 17, 2008


I had good success with homemade boric acid eye wash but they say to make it fresh. I stored some in a covered container and used it later. Black stings formed in the solution. Smut color. Some companies have had trouble with old wash. Be careful. Red

Red Stendel
- Pk Ridge, Illinois
October 3, 2008


I found the site link below to be very helpful. My search was for use on a kitten with a yucky eye. I was not able to find medicinal boric acid at the pharmacy (on shelf), but asked the pharmacist and was able to order it in the next day ($4.74 at WalMart). The container is blasted with "Poison" warnings, but I think like many things it CAN be harmful yet still used correctly and in moderation for 'old school' nursing! I intend to use it carefully on my kittens eye and will just be sure to use the boric acid lightly with sterile water. If I don't make it strong enough, I guess it will just take longer to clear up his eye infection. Wish me luck and I hope this link -- www.delgadog.com/faq/faq_qa.htm -- helps those in need make a decision for them self!

Lynn Walton
- Canton, OHIO
November 26, 2008


The eye wash that used to be available stated "boric acid 3%" and the other ingredient was water. It always worked on eye infections. It worked much better and more quickly than current treatments which are ridiculously expensive. And nobody got poisoned.I don't know how many teaspoons of powder or how much water will make 3%. Haven't been able to get it and started to hear about it being dangerous in this usage ever since the big drug companies started publishing the textbooks used in medical schools, Draw your own conclusions.

Jeff Coles
- El Paso, Texas
December 19, 2008



Playing on the paranoia of the public, and enflamed by big media who profit from "Death in your medicine cabinet? News at 11 !" teasers, the government regulates everything for "safety" today, Jeff, while not actually doing any testing themselves. Instead they demand clinical trials that cost tens of millions of dollars. And who will pay for such tests on dirt cheap commodities like boric acid? Nobody, of course, which they are counting on. So, the revolving-door FDA, staffed and run by people on leave from pig pharm, has erected a perfect system that leaves the impression that boric acid and other traditional remedies aren't safe, and no one can authoritatively counter it. They've already outlawed many traditional folk remedies that were used for hundreds of years on the same basis (that nobody will front millions of dollars for clinical trials of commodities which offer no profit), and boric acid may be next.

I've used boric acid myself and feel that it is safe, and some popular books imply that it is safe. But we'll never know because the "regulators" (in quotes because it's such a laugh) have powerful incentive to outlaw anything that isn't insanely profitable to pig pharm, and we've given these heartless corporations the cockeyed government tools they need to outlaw competition from inexpensive traditional folk remedies. Yes, it's enough to make you sick, but the only medicine you can legally treat yourself with is the product of pig pharm and the regulators that they so completely own.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, finishing.com
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
December 19, 2008



Hi everyone! I am 68 and have been using boric acid in my eyes all my life with no ill effects! Granted, I don't use it often. I don't use any medications very often! Rarely even take aspirin. At 68 I'm still taking only one prescription, and that is thyroid hormone because they surgically removed my thyroid at age 21 (they'd already zapped it with radiation when I was a baby!).

Anyway, yes the "formula for boric acid eye wash" comes up when you search it. It is really good stuff. Kills - apparently - all kinds of fungus.

During the 70s, 80s, 90s the medical establishment tried to get it removed from the shelves of Walgreen's, etc., so we would not have access to it, just as they want to remove all access to vitamins and minerals, without a prescription from a doctor! It's all about money, not about safety!

Take care! Follow directions. But don't worry about boric acid.

Dody VerSluis
- Colorado Springs, Colorado
December 29, 2008


Eye solution is made with boric acid powder and either boiled or distilled water, NO alcohol.

Trac MacD
- Warren, New York
August 3, 2009



Hi, I am 67 and have used boric acid eye wash all my life and have had good results with home made and store bought both.
I'd like to respond to all those people who are so scared of boric acid because it is "acid". All carbonated drinks, even some bottled drinking water is acidic, coffee, tea and many foods are acidic, like fruit,and catchup, not to mention hot sauce . And what about your own stomach acid, do you think any of this stuff will kill you ! Doctors give rat poison as a blood thinner (very carefully adjusted doses) but still rat poison! IT'S THE DOSAGES THAT ARE IMPORTANT, too strong- not good, too weak - not good enough, need close enough dose to do what you need it to treat. And while I'm ranting, there is a whole body of old remedies that don't need to be tested because they have been proven over and over again for the last 100 years or more. What we need is for this information to be "guarded" to keep it from being altered/changed by the misinformed or malice and also should be easy to get hold of...

Sam Haviland
- Groves, Texas
August 31, 2009



I have seen several recipes across the net for boric acid eyewash ranging anywhere from 1/4 to 2 tsp for 2 cups water.
Personally, my mothers recipe (which I just used a few days ago) is:
1 tsp to 2 cups boiling water.
Feels just like water on the eye.
Yes, it does say eye irritant on the bottle but so is any antiseptic if the wrong dosage of the key ingredient is used. So be careful!

Ang Nav
- Portland, Oregon
September 16, 2009



I have been treated for trachoma twice in the last 15 ears.The greek doctor who treated me had worked for years in Egypt and had vast experience treating trachomas. Together with the antibiotics (chloramphenicol) he instilled in my eyes drops of borax solution and probably silver nitrate [on eBay or Amazon] prepared by him.Three times a week he was installing one drop in each eye.My eyes they were turning red as a blood and the pain inside the eye was like having glass pieces.( probably the pH of the solution was acidic)The doctor told me not to be afraid because the borax is attacking only the infected mucosa of the eye leaving unaffected the healthy one.Recently I got again red eyes, visited younger doctors they prescribed antibiotics and artificial tears and ointments but still I have red eyes.
Is there anybody to tell me the right borax solution ?

dimitrios m [last name deleted for privacy by Editor]
- N. ARTAKI GREECE
October 19, 2009


Thanks for all the comments on Boric Acid...I believe my mother us it on me as an infant for some infection of the eye, doctor recommended...my cat has an eye infection and I'm going to use the boric acid powder purchased from Rite Aid.

Thanks again for everyone's comments

Sarah Brooks
- Flushing, Michigan, USA
September 1, 2010



My mom used boric acid solution as an eye wash when I was a kid; I'm 62 years old now. I've been looking for a replication of her 'recipe' because I've just gotten a stye. My online search brought me first to this Wikipedia link:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boric_acid. It's very thorough, with medical references attached, so appears reliable. I'm a veterinary technician, and can tell you the info listed there seems to coincide with the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) documents that are provided with any chemical, whether used for human, animal, and industrial purposes. You can request an MSDS from the manufacturer of any product or pharmaceutical. They must provide this to you by federal law.

Tomorrow, I'm off to [the drug store] to find the pharmaceutical form of this chemical, and I have no qualms about using it in my eye.

Hope this helps all of you who have doubts about 'home remedies' ~ we're losing a vast pharmacopia because of BigPharma's vested-interest influence on our government.

Jan Sloat
- Hopatcong, New Jersey, USA
September 9, 2010



October 19, 2010

You need to get pure boric acid [affil links] in powder form

You can buy it online, at eBay [affil link] or many online stores sell it.
Do not buy it in bottles used for bug killer.
Buy the bulk powder form, specifically and simply "boric acid powder". Google that and see what you find.

Also, some drug stores or pharmacies sell in in a bottle.
It is simply called Boric acid, not any product name like "bug kill" or anything like that.

You can use it to kill bugs....just search online for a recipe.
But it has many uses. If you buy the pure powder form, you know what you are getting...with nothing else mixed in.

Laura Lee
- Sebastopol, California, USA



My kitty has been suffering eye infections for a couple years. Tetracycline made her light sensitive. eurithromycin didn't help. I bought herbal drops for kitty eyes and tested them on myself first--YOWL! no way are they going in kitty's eyes! Mine burned for two weeks. Finally went to the vet at the cost of $85 bucks (that was the eurithromyycin attempt). Etc.

Today I have wised up and read up and am going to get boric acid tomorrow. I also tried a saline solution in my own eyes... nicely soothing, so we have that as a back up. Thank you everyone who has written here!

BUT TO ALL WHO PLAN TO USE BORIC ACID TO KILL ANTS--a pox on your houses (just kidding) and maybe a flea infestation! Do you realize fleas can live in the soil, waiting for furry animals to hitch a ride on? And WHO do you think holds the flea populations in check? ANTS! They are copious eaters of flea eggs and larvae and are the natural means of keeping them in check. If you ever get one of those nasty flea infestations in your house you're more likely to be a user of lawn chemicals killing off ants, but in any case, its the LACK of ants inside the house that that lets the fleas flourish in your rugs. Invite the ants in! Make friends with ants, don't kill them. We should have such civil societies as they have.

My chemical and flea-free but eye infected cat and I thank you for all the eye wash advice. We offer our perspective on ants in trade.

joanne_baek
Joanne Baek
- Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico USA
November 6, 2010



My mother used Boric Acid and water for us kids when we got any kind of eye infection including sties. I even took her old bottle when I got married in 1967. Years later I purchased a bottle when mine was getting low. No need for an expiration date. I always used a half teaspoon of boric acid to a half cup of boiled water. I would used it for three days. By that time, the eyes were clean and clear.

Recently my cousin sent me a very old baby book because it was my mother's who was born in 1920. It has all kinds of amazing advice (such as roll some cotton on the end of a toothpick HA!) Right there in the book was the recipe for Boric Acid water to be used for eye discharges, only its recipe was for 1 tsp boric acid to 1 cup water. I never needed that much, so I continue to half it. When I bought a second bottle, there were NO instructions on it, only that it is a poison. I imagine the drug companies wanted to make their own kinds of eye care products that cost 100 times as much! I bought all the bottles I could find ten years ago and gave them to my oldest six marrieds. I gave more for the younger ones as they got married. Now I can't even find it at the stores at all. But no worries, it seems to last almost forever.

It works better than commercial eye preps/meds. Three days is all that's needed at the max.

Maybe you can find it online.

Kandy Zierenberg
- Thousand Oaks, California, USA
May 23, 2011


I bought boric acid powder at [my drug store] recently. They didn't stock it on the shelves. They just order it and it came in in a couple of days.

Caty Tsilds
- Wilmette, Illinois USA
July 6, 2011



February 5, 2012

I haven't been to a doctor my whole life.

Doctors believe something I don't believe in... that a huge pharmaceutical company cares about any of us.

They only care about profits. Somehow they came up with the thought that 'side effects' are normal. Then the 'side effects' get worse and worse until some of the 'side effects' are 'vomiting', 'psychosis' and 'death'.

And you people are squabbling about a method which has been tried-and-true for a hundred years? which has never been shown to have any side effects at ALL?

My father used to say, "Quit yer bellyachin'", which meant "whinin' isn't accepted in this house".

When you have a tried-and-true method, and it works, you use it. When you have chemical companies cleverly disguised as caring people and they have 'side effects' or their product reads like a plastic factory - you gobble them right down.

It has been forever that people have been putting boric acid into capsules and putting them into their vagina for yeast infections. Once-per-day for 14 days... your yeast infection is generally gone. Keep going for another 14 days if it isn't. boric acid vaginal suppositories [affil links]

For eyes, 1/4 teaspoon per 2 cups of distilled water if it's a normal infection or you just have red bloodshot eyes. 1/2 teaspoon per 2 cups only if it's a really bad red-eye infection and the eye is a solid-red color.

Boil everything for ten minutes. Use an old eyedropper bottle from something and use Q-tip [affil links] dipped in isopropyl alcohol to swab out the inside of the glass and inside of the rubber stopper. Then pour boiling water over everything and let it sit. 10 minutes under boiling water kills what the alcohol didn't.

'Acid' doesn't mean it's sulfuric acid.

Also, Borax is NOT Boric Acid. Do not use 20 Mule Team Borax as being synonymous with Boric Acid; the two are quite different compounds. Look them up on Wikipedia. One is the salt of the other.

Yes, you can kill cockroaches with boric acid. So what? You can kill almost anything with iodine [affil links], too; but I wouldn't think anything of putting a couple drops of iodine in water and drinking that water. I did it all the time when I would go camping.

Stop having such a strange dichotomy of emotions that make no sense. If something has been used for a hundred years and it's been safe: then it's safe.

If something was just invented that has 25 'side effects' including insanity and death; don't take it.

Garlic in oil in proper levels for ear drops... safe. Boric Acid in proper levels for eye drops... safe. Iodine painted on skin sores or warts multiple times to get rid of them... safe.

It's really not rocket science.

Mother Nature cures first. Tried-and-true cures second. If those don't work, and ONLY if those don't work go to the idiot doctors who have been brainwashed by the evil chemical companies.

We all know they're evil.

Gary Creighton
- Mesa, Arizona



I have used Boric acid for an eyewash, as my grandmother did, for the last 65 years with no ill effects. You can buy Boric acid, also known as Boracic acid, from a Pharmacy. It is very cheap. Make a 2% solution in water. That is 2 grams in 100 grams or about 10 grams in one pint of boiling water. A rounded teaspoon is about 10 grams. Allow it to cool and put it into a sterilised bottle. Since it is a mild antiseptic, it will keep safely for ages. No need to buy stupidly expensive commercial eye lotion, and no need to refrigerate or throw it away after a week or two. Pour some into an eye bath or you can use an egg cup if you don't have a proper eye bath. Bathe inflamed or itchy eyes frequently for rapid results.
DO NOT USE BORAX for eyes. Borax is different and is excellent for washing and disinfecting clothes or floors, but much too strong for eyes.

Jane Forrester
Designer craftsperson - Enniskeane, Cork, Ireland
March 12, 2012


Q. My mother used boric acid eye wash for all of us growing up for 40 years. It always worked. When I got much older, got dry itchy eyes, tried to find it, went to doctors who prescribed all types of drops, none of which work, but boric acid still does. 1T to 2 cups of water works well. However, how does one know if Boric Acid NF is the same as Boric Acid NF of the past? I am about to run out of my McKesson boric acid from the 1980s and the Sunmark boric acid NF I bought says don't put in eyes. Are they the same?

Also, does anyone know where to buy icthamol ointment for draining stubborn sores or boils or sulfa powder for ticks and chiggers? Both of these products work very well but I can't find either anywhere in commercial drugstores.

Martha Smith
- Prov, Rhode Island, USA
May 9, 2014


May 2014

Hi Martha. You must pretend that the icthammol or sulfa powder is for your horse, of course, and keep it on the QT.

The FDA is OF the pharmaceutical companies, BY the pharmaceutical companies, FOR the pharmaceutical companies, and they came up with this really neat trick of declaring virtually all traditional remedies, which have been used for decades (including ichthammol and sulfa powder) "NEW drugs" which can't be sold until multi-million dollar clinical trials are run. They know full well that traditional remedies are not patentable, so substantial money can't be made from them, so nobody will sponsor the tests ... leaving fabulously expensive drugs offered by mega corporations as our only choice anymore.

Please see http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=310.531 -- you just can't make this stuff up :-)

See how they couch it as if they were concerned for your safety? If they actually were concerned about your welfare or costs, the FDA would simply sponsor the tests on traditional non-patentable remedies themselves -- they don't want to, they want affordable options outlawed! I'm not saying these traditional medicines are safe; I'm saying I don't know, and we'll never know ... because it doesn't suit the business model of big pharma and the regulatory apparatus, which they own, to find out. Our completely corrupted political system, where donations from megacorps elect our politicians, has very real consequences including health care having become non-affordable. Your corrupt government -- both parties -- is completely to blame.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, finishing.com
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey


Q. I have previously used a Boric Acid solution for an eye wash with good results. However I have a product from Rite Aid that says Boric Acid Powder on the label with little other information except a warning to
avoid contact with skin and eyes. It label contains nothing about the strength or purity. Also, this was not found on the shelf at the drug store. I had to request it from the druggist. He went into his storeroom and came out with a 4 oz. bottle. I have no idea of its purity only the warning. I am desperate to use it on an adult cat with an eye injury, but do not feel very positive about this product. Does anyone know if all Boric Acid Powders available to the general public for home use are the same? I get so disgusted with modern medicine, the nanny state and greed.

melody mokres
- lancaster, California, US
February 3, 2015


thumbs up sign A dilute boric acid solution has been a trusted remedy for eye complaints in my family for decades. I picked it up from my grandmother in the 1950s. For a more complete treatment, first make a poultice of grated raw irish potato, preferably OLD potato. Put the poultice directly on the closed eyes and leave for at least half an hour. Then wash off with the boric acid solution. In my experience this is safe, effective, yet inexpensive. A boon!
We also use boric acid to fight roaches, but that is a newer trick. I dust full strength powder along the joint between floor and all cupboards, floor and major furniture, then either flip it under with a paintbrush or blow it under with compressed air. One treatment lasts better part of a year. US$2 buys 500 g, which lasts us a couple or 3 years, provided I don't give too much away to friends and neighbors.

Mike Miller
- Neihu, Taipei, TAIWAN
August 5, 2015




! I have used boric acid and boiled water for conjunctivitis for over 30 years for myself and my family. We don't get it often but maybe once or twice in a decade. I use 1/2 tsp in 1 cup of boiling water, then pour into sterile bottle and cool before using in a sterile eye cup. It is great for the eyes. Just a very mild disinfectant and it works if you use it consistently two or three times a day for several days until AFTER all symptoms are gone. It feels like water, except pure water stings the eyes slightly, this solution does not.

The problem is finding the USP grade of boric acid and the glass eye cups which you have to sterilize each time. Best to have at least 2 so you use one sterile glass eye cup for each eye, then boil them to sterilize for the next use. Make sure they are cool before pouring cold solution in them or they may crack. It used to be easy to buy glass eye cups and now they only seem to have plastic ones which I am not sure you can boil! I have only one left now and am searching for somewhere to buy cheap glass eye cups again!

Does anyone know where you can buy them? I am kicking myself because years ago I saw a few for about $2.50 each in a pharmacy and I was running low, but I had always bought them for $1 each before and so passed. I have never found them for sale again since then (at 20 years ago now).

Leslirae Rotor
- Clayton, Ontario
February 8, 2016


thumbs up sign Great information overall on this thread! All's well that ends well. But the early confusion also shows why the drug stores worry about liability and don't carry many simple concentrated or bulk ingredients anymore like oxalic acid, boric acid. Someone will misuse the stuff and sue.
The commercial product eyewashes like Collyrium or generic equivalents come with a plastic cup. Read the label carefully to be sure they have boric acid and typically sodium borate, borax also plus a bunch or other ingredients, primarily preservatives. Again, because someone might open the bottle then leave it on a shelf for ten years.
Borax is good fungicide, sprinkle the powder in corners or along a wall or even where the roof has been leaking (caution as mentioned earlier, not where pets might get into it) or make a solution and spray where water is entering through a wall or ceiling, the borax in solution will follow the water trail upstream to the source.
An old herbal remedy for eye problems was goldenseal root infusion.

Tim White
- - Grand Marais, Minnesota, USA
March 2, 2016



! I'm 54 years old now and when I was a little boy my mom had a glass jar of Boric Acid in the kitchen cabinet. I always wondered what it was for. One day our cat had kittens and their eyes were stuck shut way after the time for them to open them. She got that bottle from the cabinet and mixed a couple of spoons in some warm water until it all dissolved. She had me get a wash cloth and wet it good and rub it on their eyes. Some of them started opening their eyes right away. The others took a couple hours.

My father also had a real old first aid kit. When I went fishing with my uncle I took it with me. I had stepped on a Catfish top fin and it went all the way into my foot. I pulled it out and knew that the barb had poison on it and it was fixing to start hurting real bad. I went to that old first aid kit and found a small tube of that Boric Acid and put it on the puncture and the pain stopped instantly. I've been looking for some more ever since.

Timothy Nelson
- PEARLAND, Texas, United states
May 31, 2016


A. I'm 54 years old and I've used a homemade boric acid solution for my eyes all my life. I would rather use it than anything I've ever tried from a store. It is wonderfully soothing and refreshing. It is great for minor infections and irritated eyes. 1 tsp to a pint of boiling water, let cool. (as was stated previously)

Karen Perkins
- Elizabethton, Tennessee
May 17, 2016



15053
(empty vintage bottle available on eBay )

Bausch & Lomb Eye Wash

on eBay or

Amazon

(affil links)

A. My grandmother used an eyewash in a cobalt blue bottle called Collyrium. It contains boric acid and a couple of other ingredients. Google "Collyrium"...can still get it at some retail drug stores and online.

Nancy Brandau
- Beaufort South Carolina US
September 7, 2016



simultaneous replies

A. A safe boric acid eye wash solution::
Some have said 1 tsp/pint of water which is 3.125 %solution
Some have said a 1.5 % solution
some have said a 2 % solution
I have calculated that a level 1/2 tsp of boric acid in 1 pint of boiled water would give a 1.5625% solution, which is just a tad more than 1.5 %. So I shall try my calculation. It certainly is weak enough.

Don Schimpff
- Redding, California USA
January 9, 2017


A. For those of you who wish to use a boric acid eye wash. Don't let the term 'acid' throw you. You are massively comprised of weak and strong acids - acetic acid [on eBay or Amazon] (vinegar, which is used extensively for home use) and hydrochloric acid (stomach juices necessary for hydrolysis of food - the first step in breaking it down to its elemental molecules for the body's use); and many other acids in numerous physiological processes. You don't hear the drama around 'bases', but these go in the opposite direction on the pH scale and can also do much harm if presented in the wrong form. Acid vs base simply refers to the pH of a substance - your body functions somewhere around 7.41.

Boric acid NF (National Formulary) grade should be fine to mix with sterile water (can also buy a rinse for the sterile water in the eye section of the store - 8oz or more - most say 99% water ). To make a therapeutic eye wash to work against infection:

Add 1 to 1 1/2 capful of the NF grade boric acid to the purchased eye rinse and just swirl till it dissolves (may need to gently MW till goes into solution). I don't bother to buy the eye rinse ($10 at most stores) as I take a glass measuring cup and MW about a cup of water for 2 to 3 min (be careful it doesn't explode - may have to MW less time or twice with less time). Then 1 to 1 1/2 capful of boric acid NF grade (depending on the degree of your eye infection). Let it cool to room temp. Then use this prep copiously. (drug stores should have that eye cup for these flushes or you can use a dropper but not as good.) Keep the unused portion in its MW'd container draped with a new sheet each time of clean wax paper or plastic wrap in the fridge. Only keep for 3 to 5 days max. if you are treating an infection, will need to use 2 to 3 times per day for a few days. Practice clean technique - do not cross contaminate or you will re-inoculate yourself with your pathogen. Cleanse eye cup in DW (has to be glass, ceramic or stainless) and if you do not have a sterilization setting then before each use (always precleaned in DW)-- place the cup in a bowl of water and MW for 2 to 3 min. Will have to let cool completely. Remove prep from fridge for next use and let warm to room temp.

A little hassle but worth the results. Boric acid is a natural antimicrobial. I make such preps for my dogs too. One, in particular manages to keep getting a gram neg bacterial eye infection. Like children they have a high fecal veneer and rub crap into their eyes, despite our best efforts to scoop up immediately.

ps -- The cap on the Sunmark NF grade boric acid is rather wide. Each ref to 'capful' should read "1/2 to one capful for 2 cups water volume. Adjust accordingly for smaller volumes."

Kudos to the poster who laid out the truth, regarding use of compounds and therapies outside of the heavy FDA regulatory gorilla. The thousands of man-hours of historic successful use is more than sufficient to any FDA approved phase IV clinical trial. The House of Medicine in ideology embraces all effective (non harmful) avenues of therapy - even though the status quo would seem to belie this notion.

Alex Hathaway
JDBioEdge - Scottsdale, Arizona USA
January 9, 2017


A. Use distilled water with boric acid eye wash.
Boil water and rinse eye cup to sterilize it before & after. If you use contact lenses, do not reuse it if you have disposables. Sterilize contact lenses too or you re-infect your eyes. Thanks.

Doris Chu
- Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
May 17, 2017


A. When I was a child, I developed severe eczema on my legs, a little above my ankles. It turned out that the eczema I had was from an allergy to Bermuda grass, a fact that was not discovered until later. At any rate, the eczema was so very bad and very itchy, that I would scratch it until it bled, a lot. My parents, who were NOT wealthy were a bit older than the usual parents - almost grandparent ages, so they knew about the old home remedies. Long story short, they made a solution of Boric acid and water, dipped a very clean rag into the solution, and put it on and left it on the affected area for about 15 minutes or so, every day for about a week. Well, let me tell you, that eczema totally, I mean TOTALLY disappeared.

opinion! Boric acid is great stuff. Use it - in the correct amounts, of course. Do not be scared by the bad hype against it. That kind of negative rubbish is probably coming from big health and drug companies, so one will have to visit not only the expensive dermatologist, but then also visit the pharmacy to buy the extremely expensive drugs, which do not always work.

Deleon Roper
- Phoenix, Arizona, USA
February 9, 2018




Q. I and my 9 year old granddaughter have Demodex folliculorum in our eyes.
I put the CVS eye drops with Boric acid in my eyes before I go to sleep and in the morning. Less crustiness on the eyelids.

What do you think of my daughter using it on my 9 year old granddaughter's eyes ?

Only at CVS did I find these eye drops with Boric acid at the reasonable price of about $4-5.00/0.5FL oz ( 15ml ) bottle. Some were almost $17.00 for the same size bottle.

Shâreen Morrison
- Yuma, Arizona United States
December 11, 2019


A. Hi Shâreen. I'm the first to admit to a bit of self-medication for my own tired old body ... but I would only trust an opthalmologist's opinion regarding putting stuff in my grandchildren's eyes :-)

Regards,

pic of Ted Mooney
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
January 2020


----
Ed. note: Pardon the huge volume of postings on this subject, but see also topic 64/20, "Uses for boric acid and borax?".




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