Here is to a needle in the eye (A cautionary tale)

[Ice Czar]

I am sitting in a dark room with my GUI altered to black and dark grays, A bottle of Gatifioxacin Ophthalmic Solution, one pupil artificially dilated, a hole in my eye and a few pointers on avoiding this particular situation.

I love what I do and where I work, I live within a firestorm of flying incandescent metal. Everyone has both eye and ear protection on at all times. We are all very aware of exactly where we send those sparks flying, but sometime the unexpected occurs. In my case I got a ricochet off a table and up behind my safety glasses. The trajectory was roughly parallel to my face. Here is the first important fact.

1. More often than not cold steel particles will bounce off an eyeball, but hot or warm particles will immediately suck up to an eyeball

Dr Wescom explained that to me just an hour ago, most of the metal particles he picks out of eyeballs where hot. If they are hot the trajectory is immaterial.

In the roll up to Christmas we where very busy forging and fabricating a 12 foot tall wrought steel grill double door. We are going to close the shop till Jan 3rd. On Christmas eve I get a bit of something in my eye and first blink it off, finish the grind, then flush it and take a look in the mirror. Looks clear to me.

Over the holidays my eye gets irritated by smoke and hot air, progressively worse as the day grows older but all better again each morning. Back in the shop yesterday Im talking with our lead smith and ask about what you do for a scratched eyeball. This leads us to the second important lesson.

2. Don't rely on self examination

"Its off to the hospital for you me boy, your going to get a dremel stuck in your eye" (well that was more or less the gist of what he said, with alot more lurid details.) He spotted what I couldn't a bit of metal at the very edge of the cornea.

At the ER after the prerequisite examinations to insure I don't keel over dead on the way to the examination room, the diagnosis is confirmed. My eye is first numbed with a few drops of Tetracain, and then the attempt to remove the particle with a Q-tip, which fails.

My eye has started to grow ip onto the particle. So luckily the next step works, a hypodermic needle with a little negitive pressure sucks the particle off. But, there is a rust ring. Bringung us to the third important lesson.

3. When it comes to an eye injury, don't suck it up. Time makes it worse.

So off my Doc goes to find the dremel, we are going to grind that bit of your eyeball off before the rust is permanently incoporated into the cornea as its not very transparent. As it turned out they didn't have the grinder needed and she said it was really more like a buffing job. So off I go to the optometrist the next town over, where examined once more, numbed and with my head in another nifty vise I end up with a very small needle picking bits of rust contaminated cells from my eye. I never did get to see that eye dremel tool, but the vise was nice.

Bringing us to the last important lesson.
4. Safety glasses are nice and all, but they ain't goggles

seems like a good day to rewire the basement in the dark.

[Finnr]

Been there!! It bloody well hurts! Safety glasses are a have to now in the shop !!
Finnr

[mcraigl]

I.C. I got to see the dremel a little over a year ago. It don't hurt, but let me tell you, well actually I can't tell you, how hard it was to hold still with that thing coming directly at your eye AND NOT BLINK!!! I now think I can hold still and not flinch for just about anything. Glad they got yout taken care of. Mine was from using a jigsaw to cut out some sheet metal parts. You're right about the temperature / eye stickiness relationship too.

[Ice Czar]

Originally Posted by mcraigl

how hard it was to hold still with that thing coming directly at your eye AND NOT BLINK!!!

first time in the ER I requested an orderly to hold open my eyelid while I held shut my other eyelid and the doctor rested her hand on my forehead

2nd time the optometrist (using the scope\vise) held open that eyelid and had me hold open the other explaining that having the other eye shut tends to make the remaining one wander

Im just glad the needles where well inside the distance I could possibly focus on

I did feel the procedures even with the topical, as pressure, it it was xxxx hard to keep my eye and head still for it.

[GVR-4579]

Ive had a piece taken out of my eye as well. I was wearing safety glasses and all as well. The only thing different is that mine was a cold piece, and the eye doctor told me that in her experience, its usually easier for her to get stuff out that has been there a day or two.

[larrynjr]

The week before Christmas, when I was in the process of re-injuring my neck and shoulder I had a small bit blow up under my safety glasses from my chop saw. Apparently it wasn't hot enough or it only hit the corner of my eye because I was able to remove it myself when I finally looked in the mirror. I switched to safety goggles immediately though.

I just don't want to go there!

[Ten Hammers]

Jackson makes a very nice headgear for face shield and nice thick clear lenses. Ask me how I know about eye and face protection sometime ( if you have a week or so ). Frequent flyer in the last 20 years. Yes I now own goggles as well.

[jeremy k]

My eye balls (both) have came in contact with the ol' dremel - twice in the last year. Both times it happened was on a Saturday and by Sunday noon it was extremely painfull. Time is a very important issue due to rust - the longer you wait the harder it is to get all the rust out - Believe me!!!!. The one eye suffered no damage - the other suffered about 5-10% loss of vision (clear vision) due to it being exactly in the middle of the pupil. I was wearing glasses but now have switched to glasses with a soft felt like pad and vents to seal the eyes. They work fine but they do fog up more easily that I thought they would. Even with a anti-fog put on by the manufacturer. Glasses are not a 100% cure for not getting something in your eye - but they do help. I'm on a first name basis with my eye doctor, not a good thing but required, by all means don't wait if you know for sure you have something in your eye - rust rings ARE VERY BAD, even waiting 2 days is to long. One trip to the eye doctor w/ a dremel and then 3 day's after of dremeling is way to much for anyone. The problem w/ the eye tissue is - like a swamp the more it's disturbed the softer the ground gets - that's why it took 4 days of dremeling on the 1 eye, the tissue can't take trying to get the whole rust ring out at once if it's that bad. in all it's just a bad deal to get something in your eye - and the eye doctor told me the eye is one of the most forgiving parts of your body, as far as healing and cleaning itself. That's just my story - only cause it happened - don't want to go there again and wouldn't wish it on anyone. - JK

[MRobb]

Wow! Thanks to Ice Czar ,& everyone else, for all the important warnings & info. I too have been to the eye doctor more times than I care to. Luckily I haven't been introduced to the dremel tool. I have safety glasses hanging in several places around the shop, as well as the ones I wear. Time to order some goggles though. I'm glad things worked out for you Ice Czar (and everyone else who posted! )

[blafen]

my dad was drilling and had this happen to him, he waited till the next day to get it removed and they used a wire brush (hopefully nylon bristles not steel ) to remove the rust. but an interesting side note is that if you enter an MRI with that chunk of steel in there it will be violently ripped from your eye and that it wont always go out but it may go back through your eye towards the back of your skull(or so says the doc) which sounds reasonable eough considering the magnets involved