Arc eye

[Grumblegrunt]

also known as snow blindness.

anyone had this? just spend the past two days in agony after catching a flash or two while welding up an exhaust on tuesday, I was taight gas as a kid so didn;t think anything of it until a few hours later - it felt like someone had poured iron filings into my eye sockets getting worse as the night progressed, screwed my eyes shut and they swell up like blisters with the tears until they pop and when opened I looked like one of draculas minions. staggering round the house with a blindfold on was interesting and a good test of memory as i managed to turn the oven on and get the lasagne out of the fridge. eating it was another thing altogether!

obviously today I can open my tenderised peepers and see the world again.

not recommended at all

I'd treated this elsewhere in a past life but didn't think it could be as bad as they were making out - plus I had opthocaine minims (or whatever they were called) so they had a fraction of the pain I had.

 

[thegimp]

Will you forget your eye protection next time

Lesson learnt

 

[JoeCivvie]

It's a hazard of working on site. I'm pretty sure it's not snow blindness, from memory the arc flash scars the eye, and that's the roughness causing the irritation. It does pass in an a few weeks.

Even now if I pass someone arc welding I'll look away or shield my eyes.

 

[Grumblegrunt]

Will you forget your eye protection next time

Lesson learnt

I was wearing light protection but flipped it up because I needed to be exact. according to the internet it only takes a second for the flash to get you.

fortunately I wasn't at for so long, I gather it can get quite nasty.

 

[socialdespatch]

Had it a few times from the days of permanently live torches and handheld shields, not nice at all. A couple of days should see you right. I won't go near a MIG or Arc welder now without an automatic helmet.

 

[theoriginalphantom]

only had it once when I worked in an engineering factory. There was a gap in the welding bay shielding which was to my left as I worked on one of the manual presses. Never got it in the welding bay itself cos (of course) I was wearing eye protection in there.
it was bloody uncomfortable for a couple of days though. I must have gone through two bottles of optrex.

 

[Gungythree]

Cover all exposed skin as well, you can get bad sun burn from the ultra violet rays.

 

[EX_STAB]

If you are working in an area where others are welding wear ordinary clear safety specs. They will block the UV. Take note on the post above about UV skin burns too.

 

[Effendi]

also known as snow blindness.

anyone had this? just spend the past two days in agony after catching a flash or two while welding up an exhaust on tuesday, I was taight gas as a kid so didn;t think anything of it until a few hours later - it felt like someone had poured iron filings into my eye sockets getting worse as the night progressed, screwed my eyes shut and they swell up like blisters with the tears until they pop and when opened I looked like one of draculas minions. staggering round the house with a blindfold on was interesting and a good test of memory as i managed to turn the oven on and get the lasagne out of the fridge. eating it was another thing altogether!

obviously today I can open my tenderised peepers and see the world again.

not recommended at all

I'd treated this elsewhere in a past life but didn't think it could be as bad as they were making out - plus I had opthocaine minims (or whatever they were called) so they had a fraction of the pain I had.

Make sure you get fluid into the eyes, don't look at bright light if you can help it - wear shades.

Read -----> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photokeratitis

 

[bergen]

also known as snow blindness.

anyone had this? just spend the past two days in agony after catching a flash or two while welding up an exhaust on tuesday, I was taight gas as a kid so didn;t think anything of it until a few hours later - it felt like someone had poured iron filings into my eye sockets getting worse as the night progressed, screwed my eyes shut and they swell up like blisters with the tears until they pop and when opened I looked like one of draculas minions. staggering round the house with a blindfold on was interesting and a good test of memory as i managed to turn the oven on and get the lasagne out of the fridge. eating it was another thing altogether!

obviously today I can open my tenderised peepers and see the world again.

not recommended at all

I'd treated this elsewhere in a past life but didn't think it could be as bad as they were making out - plus I had opthocaine minims (or whatever they were called) so they had a fraction of the pain I had.

Adrenaline eye drops will fix the problem within a few hours.

 

[happybonzo]

I had Cortisone drops and they worked well. I was repairing ali tipper bodies at the time and the "flash" used to reflect all around the inside of the tipper body when you were working on them

 

[llech]

You'll live, had sand eye a couple of times, once off a laser. Antibiotic cream squirted in the eye lid and it was all ok.

 

[FMed 8]

Bright light! Bright light! Pretty Blue Bright light! Hard to look away from isn't it? Until you've had arc eye then you never do it again!

 

[Grumblegrunt]

well all okay now it seems - apparently soggy used teabags on the eyes is supposed to help. some say camomile has a soothing effect.

of course I find this out after I was getting ready to pluck out my eyes with the sugar tongs....

 

[droopy-moostache]

You won't get skin burns if your just doing an hours small diy fabrication job, usually on the forearm, or exposed neck. Welding all day every day needs complete skin cover like heavy leather welders jacket etc.

Be careful of cheap Chinese auto welding masks on eBay, the reaction time may be not up to spec, a few quid more for a known brand will be worth it.



( part of my job is welding )

 

[Nobby Sapper]

Oh sorry.
I thought this was a thread about Scottish lingo.
My mistake, do carry on.

 

[droopy-moostache]

Filthy racist.