Avoiding flash burn can be tough, especially in production settings, and in case nobody said it yet, "It REALLY hurts!!!" I learned, in a safety meeting, that most flash burned eyes occur from a welder other than the victim. You just gotta get in turn with others around you. You need to get a "feel" for when someone near is going to start a weld. You start to notice the tell-tale nod as they aim the stinger or MIG gun. I only suffered two or three times in my 18 years as a production welder and that was in the first 1 or 2 years. Only takes a couple times to start learning how to avoid it.
Auto-darken hoods are a godsend. I got so spoiled at work that I convinced my wife and kids that one would make a terrific Christmas present for home work a couple years ago
Relief can be tougher than avoiding it. Ive tried the potatoes, cucumbers, Visine, etc. The only thing that was truly effective was time, and as sstreckfuss stated, sleep. The best cure I found in the end was avoidance. However, I have been told, but never confirmed, that there are super effective eye drops made especially for welders available at eye doctors.
Anybody know for sure about this??