The effects of OC vary from one person to the next and it does not even affect some people at all which seems incredible. I could hardly open my eye that was exposed for what seemed like 30 to 45 minutes even though I tried to open it as much as I could and blink as instructed. Part of my face felt like it was on fire for about the same amount of time. Water reactivates the effects of OC so when I showered later I experienced it again but to a lesser degree. I tried my hardest to avoid washing the OC onto to my body because it burns. By the same evening I was fine and it was completely gone by the next morning.
I don't tell you about this to scare you but to prepare you if you want to become a law enforcement officer. It is important to know what this is like as we will potentially be exposed to it by a criminal or even another officer who is deploying it near us. We must fight off our physical reactions and mentally continue regardless of our lack of vision and discomfort. I learned two things from this experience: One, getting sprayed is not fun and two, if I do get sprayed as a deputy while in a bad situation, I know I will overcome the negative effects and win the battle.
We got to cover one eye but couldn't stop the stream of OC Spray coming at us
The OC burned instantly but we had to go fight a dummy for about 20 seconds
Next we ran a short distance to give verbal commands to a mock criminal and handcuff him
Then we faced another mock criminal and had to decide to shoot him with simunitions or not
All of us had a partner for the entire time to direct and help us
Finally we got to rinse our eyes and face with a hose for some relief