Please be REALLY CAREFULL!

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MesquiteMan

MesquiteMan

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This probably should be posted in the casting section but I thought I would post it here so more folks would see it. It hope everyone is ok with that. If not, let me know and I will move it.

It is nearly 2am central time and I just got back from spending the last 3 hours in the Central Texas Medical Center Emergency Department! I have a moderate chemical corneal abrasion caused by getting Alumilite resin in my left eye! The reason...I thought I was bullet proof and have not been wearing any eye protection while casting.

I have mixed and cast over 20 gallons of Alumilite and have never even had a close call. Now normally I am quite safety conscious and always wear a full face shield when turning even pens and always wear ear protection when doing anything with noisy equipment. I just never saw the need for eye protection while casting. Tonight that all changed.

I was mixing up some resin to cast some custom blanks for GaryMGg and got a little carried away. I ended up getting a small splash of resin in my left eye and man did it hurt! I immediately went to the shop sink and flushed my eye with water and then used the eye wash bottle that is in my first aid kit by the sink. I went inside and pulled up the MSDS for Alumilite and found that the first aid for eye exposure is to simply flush for 15 minutes and if it does not get better to seek medical attention. I then called Poison Control and they said that if it was not better after 1 hour to got to the ER. Well, one hour later it was considerably worse to I made the trip.

They irrigated my eye with lots of water and checked it all out and everything will be fine but it sure does hurt like hell. Bad enough that the ER doc gave me some Vicodin for the pain!

Anyway, if you were like me and do not normally wear eye protection, please consider changing your ways so you do not have to go through the significant pain and trouble this has caused me. Not to mention the potential cost if you do not have insurance! I know I will be buying a nice new pair of safety glasses tomorrow for casting!
 
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Curtis, corneal abrasions can hurt worse than a kick in the..... well you know. The good thing is that the pain usually doesn't last for more than a few days. Sorry it happened, but glad it wasn't worse.

Get well soon!
 
Glad you're okay...a good habit for other turners (and casters) is to put the safety glasses right at the door to their shop...first on, last off. I can understand your pain since I deal with welders ( the people & tools) all day and when it becomes time for Vicodin, it's gotten serious. Hopefully we'll have fewer of this type posting.
 
Curtis, hope you are getting better soon. Had my share of stuff in the eye, one good thing is that eye injuries normally heal extremely fast. Working as a chemist, I always have my safety glasses on. At work I have them on a retainer cord around my neck: put them on in the morning and take them off when I leave (even take them home sometimes....).
In the shop the first thing is put on the safety glasses and put my workshop cap on before I do anything - just get to a routine and don't deviate from it.
 
Curtis, Glad to hear you are doing well, thats a painfull injury. Back in my yonger and much dumber days a freind stopped by and asked me to take a look at the exhaust manifold on his jeep. I could not see anything from the open hood so crawled under to take a look from below. His friend decided to help by brushing the lose rust off the top of the manifold, right down into my face. After about 4 hours of having the rust particles scraped and ground off my corneas I ended up with patches on both eyes for three days. Everybody Please takes Curtis' advise and wear your safety glasses no matter how small the risk.
 
I feel your pain, Curtis... truly... been there, done that... TWICE! Not with Alumilite, but still. And Cav is right, it will start to feel much better in the next day or so. It's a painful way to learn a lesson.[xx(]
 
Glad you are okay...and thanks for the reminder.

Lots of us become complacent after a while and reality check every now and then helps. Sorry it had to happen to you to get us the reminder though.
 
The eye is the fastest healing part of the body. You might have some light sensitivity (sun glasses work wonders) and pain today but I bet by tomorrow you will feel better. I have seen where a lady thought her contact was in and scratched a 6mm x 4mm section of her cornea off. The next day it was down to a 2mm x 1mm scratch.

I was working up a patient in another tech's room, I went to use her hand antiseptic and did not notice it was clogged up. I ended up squirting it (from the table) into my eye (I'm 6'2" tall). I was in alot of pain and shocked it squirted that far. I had a chemical burn on my cornea from the alcohol but was back at work the next day.

If it does get any worse see an eye doctor, they are better equipped then the ER for your eyes.

Hope it does get better soon.
 
No one expects a splash, a speck or chip in THEIR eye, but it happens. Thanks for the reminder even if it was at your expense. I grew up without "safety-first" features in woodworking, finishing and mechanicing, but I have just been fortunate along with my caution. It will catch up even with lots of caution -one day. I started using a full face mask recently for normal woodworking and now have a Triton respirator for turning.

Sorry to hear about your pain and praying for total healing. Thanks for posting this.
 
Ouch. I had a corneal abrasion once and I couldn't believe how painful it was. But, Tom is right, they heal pretty quickly and I hope yours does to. Thanks for the warning, especially since I just ordered some Alumilite yesterday.
 
Sorry to hear about your accident, Curtis.
I've never had a corneal abrasion, but .... a friend of mine once had surgery done on his optic cranial nerve. After hours of surgery the neurosurgeon became confused. He crossed the anal nerve with the optic nerve. Ever since the operation my friend has had a shi**y outlook on life.
Sorry, couldn't resist.
[:D]
 
Originally posted by jeffj13
<br />Curtis,

Thank you for the warning. I'm glad that you are going to be ok.

jeff
Click to expand...

Jeff, I am soooooo glad your eye is ok. I had a splash of wood stripper in my eye before. Hurts like,..... well you know.

Curtis, I think Jeffs close call should be more of a (reminder) than a warning. We should always use all the safety measures required.
 
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