One of the most common calls to the Poison Center involves the ingestion of liquid chlorine bleach. An accidental swallow or two will cause vomiting, but rarely anything worse than that. Some young children, who get a small sip straight from the bottle, have no symptoms at all. Adults, who accidentally swallow even diluted bleach solutions, tend to have a harder time with a great deal of vomiting, retching and nausea. However, fear and anxiety probably play a big role in the symptoms adults have.
Caustics are powerful agents that can cause burns.
Both acids and alkaline corrosives are caustic substances that can burn the skin, eyes, lips, tongue, mouth, throat and stomach. There is a difference between acid burns and alkaline corrosive burns. Acids will burn the top layers of the skin. Alkaline corrosives continue to penetrate the skin and cause deeper, more extensive burns that take longer to heal. Unfortunately, there are several cleaning products that are sufficiently caustic and concentrated enough to cause severe and even permanent damage to your body.