Treat Your Eyes Like Royalty
Protect Yourself When Working with
These Toxic Santa Barbara Plants
By Tyler Hayden | April 10, 2025
Read more of the Home & Garden 2025 cover story here.
Two years ago, to fill a staffing shortage, ophthalmologist Dr. Linden Doss started responding to the majority of Santa Barbara’s eye emergencies. Up to 80 percent, he estimates.
Doss was familiar with most of the injuries he saw — everything from gunshot wounds to scratched corneas — but there was one that flummoxed him.
Every few weeks, a patient would arrive at the emergency room in excruciating pain but with no obvious trauma to their eyes. “A freakishly high number of incidents,” Doss said, who was taken aback by their level of discomfort. “People came in crying.”
After doing some research and consulting with other physicians, Doss identified the culprit: Euphorbia, a genus of plant. More specifically, Euphorbia’s thick, milky-white sap that’s so caustic that the ancient Greeks used it to burn off warts.
All of Doss’s patients had recently been exposed. He learned this by showing them photos of the plants on his phone. The majority were retirees tending to their home gardens. Others were professional landscapers unaware of the risk. “Most people just have no idea,” Doss said.
In Santa Barbara, these attractive, drought-tolerant plants are everywhere. Most visible is the pencil cactus, sometimes called fire sticks, a succulent shrub with thin, branching stems that vary in color from red to yellow to green. Other common euphorbias are the crown of thorns, candelabra tree, and African milk tree.
While there are other types of toxic plants to be wary of, “none are quite as vicious as Euphorbia,” Doss said. “It feels like your eye is on fire. It’s the most painful eye injury I can think of.”
At a biochemical level, Euphorbia sap disrupts the membranes of corneal cells, causing severe abrasions, Doss explained. “Essentially, the corneal surface just disintegrates,” he said. The immediate sensation is a sharp burning soon followed by inflammation and extreme sensitivity to light.
Doss treats his patients with steroids and antibiotics, and if all goes well, they typically recover in about two weeks. But in more
serious cases, especially if a person avoids going to the doctor or is hit with a secondary infection, scarring and permanent vision loss can occur.
Doss doesn’t want to be an alarmist. “I don’t want to freak people out,” he said. “But I think a lot of folks would be surprised by the wide variety of common plants that can cause severe eye irritation and even lasting damage.” He hasn’t seen a Euphorbia injury in a child yet, “but it’s just a matter of time,” he said.
The best way to avoid exposure is to wear gloves and eye protection while gardening, avoid touching your face, and wash your tools regularly. “Enjoy your garden, but treat your eyes like royalty,” Doss said. “Take a minute to protect them every time you go outside.”
If you do get Euphorbia sap in your eye, Doss advises the following:
1. Immediately rinse your eye with clean water or saline.
2. Use a faucet, shower, or bottle to gently flush the eye for at least 15-20 minutes.
3. Blink frequently during flushing to help clear irritants.
4. Avoid rubbing your eye.
5. Seek medical care, especially if vision is blurred or pain persists.
Doss also highlighted these plants to be cautious of:
• Century plant: Popular along walkways and driveways. Its sap acts like an alkali burn.
• Myrtle spurge: This creeping succulent releases sap that becomes even more harmful in sunlight.
• Dumb cane: A common houseplant with needle-like crystals in its sap that feel like tiny glass shards in your eye.
• Sodom apple: Sometimes grown as a tropical ornamental, its latex sap contains enzymes that can mimic a serious eye infection.
• Oleander: A classic roadside and hedge plant. All parts are toxic.
• Rubber plant: This indoor/outdoor plant leaks sap that can trigger redness, itching, or burning in the eyes.
• Croton: Colorful houseplant with sap that irritates the eyes and skin.
• Flamingo flower: Popular tropical plant. Its juice contains tiny crystals that can painfully irritate your eyes.
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