Lima Memorial Health System Logo
Approximate ER WAIT TIME WAIT TIME MACRO
Lima Memorial eHealth
Careers
Ways to Give

Health Library

Plastic casting resin poisoning
     
Print-Friendly
Bookmarks

Plastic casting resin poisoning

Epoxy poisoning; Resin poisoning

 

Plastic casting resins are liquid plastics, such as epoxy. Poisoning can occur from swallowing plastic casting resin. Resin fumes may also be poisonous.

This article is for information only. DO NOT use it to treat or manage an actual poison exposure. If you or someone you are with has an exposure, call the local emergency number (such as 911), or the local poison control center can be reached directly by calling the national toll-free Poison Help hotline (1-800-222-1222) from anywhere in the United States.

Poisonous Ingredient

 

Epoxy and resin can be poisonous if they are swallowed or their fumes are breathed in.

 

Where Found

 

Plastic casting resins are found in various plastic casting resin products.

 

Symptoms

 

Below are symptoms of poisoning from plastic casting resin in different parts of the body.

AIRWAYS AND LUNGS

  • Difficulty breathing
  • Rapid breathing

EYES, EARS, NOSE, AND THROAT

  • Drooling
  • Eye pain
  • Loss of vision
  • Severe pain in the mouth and throat
  • Severe pain or burning in the nose, eyes, ears, lips, or tongue
  • Throat swelling (which may also cause breathing difficulty)
  • Voice changes, such as hoarseness or muffled voice

HEART AND BLOOD VESSELS

  • Low blood pressure (develops rapidly)
  • Collapse (shock)

STOMACH AND INTESTINES

  • Severe abdominal pain
  • Vomiting, or vomiting blood
  • Burns of the food pipe (esophagus)
  • Blood in the stool

SKIN

  • Irritation
  • Burns
  • Holes in the skin or tissues under the skin

 

Home Care

 

Seek medical help right away. DO NOT make a person throw up unless poison control or a health care provider tells you to do so.

If the chemical is on the skin or in the eyes, flush with lots of water for at least 15 minutes.

 

Before Calling Emergency

 

Have this information ready:

  • The person's age, weight, and condition
  • Name of product (as well as the ingredients and strength, if known)
  • The time it was swallowed
  • The amount swallowed

 

Poison Control

 

The local poison control center can be reached directly by calling the national toll-free Poison Help hotline (1-800-222-1222) from anywhere in the United States. This national hotline will let you talk to experts in poisoning. They will give you further instructions.

This is a free and confidential service. All local poison control centers in the United States use this national number. You should call if you have any questions about poisoning or poison prevention. It does NOT need to be an emergency. You can call for any reason, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

You can also get online poison help now at Poisonhelp.org. Just enter the product, poison, or medicine to get expert help.

 

What to Expect at the Emergency Room

 

Take the container with you to the hospital, if possible.

Your provider will measure and monitor your vital signs, including temperature, pulse, breathing rate, and blood pressure.

Tests that may be done include:

  • Blood and urine tests
  • Chest x-ray
  • Electrocardiogram (ECG)
  • Bronchoscopy, camera down the throat to see burns in the airways and lungs
  • Endoscopy, camera down the throat to see the extent of burns to the esophagus and stomach

Treatment may include:

  • Breathing support, including oxygen, tube through the mouth into the lungs, and breathing machine (ventilator)
  • Fluids through a vein (IV) 
  • Laxatives
  • Medicine to treat symptoms
  • Surgery to remove burned skin (debridement)
  • Tube through the mouth into the stomach to remove the resin if within 30 to 45 minutes after ingestion
  • Washing of the skin (irrigation), every few hours for several days

 

Outlook (Prognosis)

 

How well a person does depends on the amount of poison they swallowed and how quickly they receive treatment. The faster a person gets medical help, the better the chance for recovery.

Swallowing such poisons can have severe effects on many parts of the body. Extensive damage to the mouth, throat, eyes, lungs, esophagus, nose, and stomach are possible.

Outcome depends on the amount of damage. Damage continues to occur to the esophagus and stomach for several weeks after swallowing the poison. Perforation (holes) may develop in these organs, leading to serious bleeding and infection. Death may occur months later. Treatment may require removal of part of the esophagus and stomach.

 

 

Open References

References

Hoyte C. Caustics. In: Walls RM, ed. Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 10th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2023:chap 143.

Nelson LS, Calello DP. Acute poisoning. Goldman L, Cooney KA, eds. Goldman-Cecil Medicine. 27th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2024:chap 96.

Pfau PR, Benson M. Foreign bodies, bezoars, and caustic ingestions. In: Feldman M, Friedman LS, Brandt LJ, eds. Sleisenger and Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease. 11th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2021:chap 28.

Theobald JL, Corcoran JN. Poisoning. In: Kliegman RM, St. Geme JW, Blum NJ, et al, eds. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 22nd ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2025:chap 94.

BACK TO TOPText only

 

        A Closer Look

         

          Self Care

           

            Tests for Plastic casting resin poisoning

             
               

              Review Date: 7/1/2025

              Reviewed By: Jesse Borke, MD, CPE, FAAEM, FACEP, Attending Physician at Kaiser Permanente, Orange County, CA. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.

              The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. No warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, is made as to the accuracy, reliability, timeliness, or correctness of any translations made by a third-party service of the information provided herein into any other language.

              © 1997- A.D.A.M., a business unit of Ebix, Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited.

              All content on this site including text, images, graphics, audio, video, data, metadata, and compilations is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. You may view the content for personal, noncommercial use. Any other use requires prior written consent from Ebix. You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, transmit, display, publish, reverse-engineer, adapt, modify, store beyond ordinary browser caching, index, mine, scrape, or create derivative works from this content. You may not use automated tools to access or extract content, including to create embeddings, vectors, datasets, or indexes for retrieval systems. Use of any content for training, fine-tuning, calibrating, testing, evaluating, or improving AI systems of any kind is prohibited without express written consent. This includes large language models, machine learning models, neural networks, generative systems, retrieval-augmented systems, and any software that ingests content to produce outputs. Any unauthorized use of the content including AI-related use is a violation of our rights and may result in legal action, damages, and statutory penalties to the fullest extent permitted by law. Ebix reserves the right to enforce its rights through legal, technological, and contractual measures.
              © 1997- adam.comAll rights reserved.