Injecting medications into the eye.

[ralerin]

This question is two fold. The protagonist in my novel will be kidnapped and tortured in a secret medical facility where DNA swaps and splicing are performed. Part of the torture involves the loss of her memory; but because she's considered Public Enemy #1, I want this drug cocktail to be administered in one of the most cringe worthy locations I can think of, through her eye. I intend for her to fight against the doctor, and win, but end up losing her vision entirely in that eye and her memory as well through a seizure caused by the drug. It's going to become a plot point later on.

What is a type or class of drugs that could reasonably fit the bill? In what part of the eye would be the best way to inject it? She's already "locked" into her body by a quick moving poison that acts on the movement centers of her brain, preventing her from moving anything but her eyes, and the antidote moves nearly as quickly but leaves the poisonee stumbling for several minutes after, plus a painful pins and needles sensation that continues for several hours after. No idea how she'll fight the doctor when she's "locked", that's up to me to figure out.

If it's impossible to go through the eye, fine. My poor character is already having her life ravaged by the plot; what's one more off the wall torture?

[Kheldarson]

My first question is genre of the book. Because if it's sci-fi/fantasy and not completely rooted in current times (for a certain value of current times), you could reasonably get away with injecting anything anywhere...

That came out wrong...

[PepperElf]

You may also want to plan for those medications to work VERY fast.

Medications delivered through the eyes DO actually exist - the main goal is to bypass the digestive system and go right into the bloodstream. Pretty much like an injection but something you can self-administer without having to ensure you get the vein.

[Aislin]

as someone who has had an injection in the eye it is very EXTREMELY scary. The needle was very thin, tiny and small and the drug was to freeze my eyes for emergency surgery that I didn't need.

[crazylegs]

If the person administering the medication in your story has no issue with potential loss of sight of the 'patient' then it wouldn't really matter where it's injected.

For added squick factor you could consider inserting the needle through the lens/pupil so the person being injected would see the needle all the time, although this would be difficult should the person still have control of their eyes as it would be a moving target.

[ralerin]

I forgot the genre? Sorry, thought I mentioned it. It's sci-fi, set a little over 1300 years in the future, after terrorist bombings and disease have decimated the population and it's just starting to climb back up. (Roughly, think Hunger Games meets the Roman Empire with my main villan being a guy with a serious Darth Vader complex and lots of fucking about with DNA and tracking devices).

Seshat: The current description I have has her "locked" on the table while the needle goes through the eye. I'm looking more for a type of drug that I could give that would cause seizures/memory loss; since I don't want to look like I half assed it. She'll lose her eye because the doctor is a moron.

[Dilorenzo]

*reads posts*

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah *runs away screaming*

gah buh no hate things with eyes no.

[Geek King]

Really, the drug doesn't have to cause the siezures and memory loss directly. You could have it cause an allergic reaction that does that, or else it spikes the blood pressure causing an aneurism that causes the siezure and memory loss.

Also, being so far in the future, you could make up a fake interrogation drug that causes the reaction. Just look up the current batch of nasties, and refine some of the side effects out for the future drug. In 1300 years, people are going to expect some improvements, even in a end-of-the-world Mad Max situation, some things higher-tech are going to survive.

[ralerin]

I want at least a base drug that I could go on. I'm A. Crap at naming and B. Want something slighty "real world" that could be reasonably recreated. Something like this:

"Here's a real life drug that might fit the bill. It's called Herpaderpalol and it's a nasty bright green color. It's made from the compounds Herp, Lol and Derp that come from willow bark, the screams of tiny children and ground coffee. It's used to treat infected toenails and is injected directly into the toe. Side effects are hirsuiteism, a tendency to tapdance, recite Shakespeare's sonnets. Complications include seizures, memory loss and potentially death. Maybe you could have your evil scientist person combine it with the drug WTFBBQ that has a high allergic reaction when injected to create DerpaWTF, that causes seizures and such within 5 minutes."

[BlaqueKatt]

I want at least a base drug that I could go on. I'm A. Crap at naming and B. Want something slighty "real world" that could be reasonably recreated. Something like this:

Sodium thiopental, is close, ultra fast acting sedative, doesn't kill pain, and can cause something similar to seizures when coming out of it.

[Mytical]

It could also be based on Rohypnol (or Flunitrazepam) mixed with something. After all in 1300 years who knows what type of nasty things they could come up with.

[PandaHatBear]

If the person administering the medication in your story has no issue with potential loss of sight of the 'patient' then it wouldn't really matter where it's injected.

For added squick factor you could consider inserting the needle through the lens/pupil so the person being injected would see the needle all the time, although this would be difficult should the person still have control of their eyes as it would be a moving target.

I've been *told* that the needle actually entering the eye is too close to really focus on so you don't really see it. But maybe that's with anaesthetic drops as well?

This is an article about delirium: http://emedicine.medscape.com/articl...clinical#a0218. Might be a starting point?

This is an article about the risk of eye infections after injections: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...77A6J820110811 Could be a way of making her go blind without it being a side effect of the drug.

I vaguely remember something about the eye having an unusual blood supply, so it's as if the body doesn't really know that it has eyes. If there's major trauma to one eye, then you have to remove because otherwise the body suddenly realises that there are eyeballs in the sockets and will send the immune system in to destroy the "foreign" tissue in the eyes, and you end up losing the sight in them both. I don't know where I heard that though, so I may have made it up. If true, it might also mean that eyes are not the best way to introduce drugs that you need a "systemic" (I.e. whole body) effect from.

[emt_cookies]

Want to know what would make me squeamish and seem a lot more painful? Have them inject the drugs underneath the finger nails. I've heard rumors drug users do it to hide marks and it just seems like it would hurt like hell. That's one thing I'd never want to do. The route of absorption would be slow but the mark would be hidden.

[rose_metal_nz]

Want to know what would make me squeamish and seem a lot more painful? Have them inject the drugs underneath the finger nails. I've heard rumors drug users do it to hide marks and it just seems like it would hurt like hell. That's one thing I'd never want to do. The route of absorption would be slow but the mark would be hidden.

I can't see how you could hit a vein there tho.. Between the toes, and various leg arteries, I've heard of (and seen - squick!! )

[Divra]

It seems to me that the most reasonable place to inject something in the eye area is either to inject Herpaderpalol into the fleshy bit in the corner of the eye, or to go underneath the eyelid and straight into the brain. Injecting stuff into the eyeball doesn't seem like such a good idea unless you intend to actually do something with the eyeball.