Cleaning headphone jack resulted in damaged screen

Long story short I had issues with my headphone jack. I tried using compressed air but it did not solve the problem. I used Q tips + alcohol in order to clean the headphone jack. This solved the problem somewhat but not entirely.

However in using the alcohol I think some may have gone through the headphone jack to underneath the screen. As a result there is kind of a cloudy appearance at the top half of my iPhone 3GS screen.

I currently have my phone in a cup of rice in order to remove the alcohol that may be present however there appears to be some bright white splotches and surrounded by a darker clouded appearance. The marks are similar to those which can be seen on a laptop monitor (e.g. )

I assume that the screen is now permanently damaged? If there are any changes to the situation as a result of using the rice I will update this thread. After searching the net for a while I haven't seen any cases of this happening. I found the problem with my headphone jack was probably caused by lint and that appears to be the case and I can't seem to get all of it out but I have gotten most of it and now the problem occurs less often than it did.

Just posting to see if there are any tips for getting the alcohol out from underneath the screen. If the rice does not manage to do it I will probably have to take the screen off the phone and to remove the alcohol. I just hope the screen is not permanently damaged. This is a lame situation because my iphone has been in a case for the entirety of the time I have had it, I haven't dropped it and my cover actually has a flap that covers the headphone jack. The phone literally looks brand new with the exception of the now seemingly alcohol logged screen

All advice is welcome and sorry for the long post. Thanks to those who read it.

guyh said:

I had exactly the same problem (headphone jack) so I took it into an apple store. I was out within 5 minutes and it was working again. Turns out the best way to clean the headphone jack is to scrape out all rubbish with a small screwdriver.

I don't recommend taking the phone into apple, they will probably say you need a replacement, which you probably don't. You could also try a hairdryer on the cold setting to dry up the phone, the hot setting would melt the glue!

You could of course buy a screen fairly cheaply and fit it yourself, or take it to one of those dodgy while you wait high street shops...

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So a new screen would fix the problem? It's not a problem with permanently damaged pixels or anything? That's good if that's the case! Thanks

RodThePlod said:

After alcohol/Qtips/compressed air/rice, etc. I'd be inclined to leave 'as-is' for the next few days to see if the situation improves.

If the spots are indeed cause by the alcohol, they may diminish or disappear as the alcohol evaporates over time...

RTP.

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Yeah I'm going to leave it in rice overnight for the next few days. The alcohol gave a kind of clouded appearance which is now gone but the white spots are still there I have noticed that they are not there when the screen is switched off but are there when it is on. They are not dead pixels though as they do show what they are supposed to show... just brighter and they remain the same with changing the brightness setting.. ;(

Thanks for input