Glass Slivers in EYE

[Calm Water Studio]

NOT a good thing. Yes, I had the dydimium safety glasses on.

I guess this is a warning more than a gripe...

I was dipping a shocky rod to heat it.. and it shattered. A couple pieces went into my glasses, and I guess I reacted and turned my head enough that several more pieces went through the area between the bridge of my nose and the glasses, and directly into my open eye. I dug out four pieces myself, but couldn't get some of them out because they were embedded underneath the surface of the eye. Luckily there was an eye doctor on call 24/7 from my group and he met me at his office so I didn't have to go to the emergency room. He got out the rest. I never knew this, but the pieces of glass themselves aren't the big problem.. it's the burns that they create on the surface of the eye. All in all, he thinks I'm going to keep the vision in my eye, but it was sure scary.

I'm NOW shopping for one of those dydimium (did I spell that right?) screens to place between me and the glass. If it's not one thing, it's another.. right?

[Janice]

You should post this somewhere where it will not get flushed! Glad you're okay.

J.

[IF-Designs]

You may try the Sportsgoggles they have a nice seal all the way around to prevent just this sort of thing from happening. I believe aura lens carries them as well as philips boroscopes.

[Curly Irish Girl]

My old lenses have "flaps" on the sides for just that reason - of course, I now use the clip on AU92 on my glasses (gotta have that bifocal) so the "flaps" are in the drawer....I use them for students & watchers!

[jaylee78]

ouch . . . ouch . . . ouch!!!! I'm glad your eyes are ok.

[DesertDreamer]

Yikes!!!!! I'm so glad you're okay! I'm being a hypocrite here since I don't have 'em (yet) but I vote for those goggles too! Most of the 'boro boys' here use 'em.

[Rose Leslie]

After watching my DH have his surgery for a transplant on his left eye. (last one) I would say you are very lucky. It is something that is very costly if this happens. Take care of your eyes. They are the only ones you get. Yes that must have been a shocker to you. It just hurts also. Also one of the rod warmers might be a good idea to use. Take care and hugs to you. It really is a bummer to happen.

[Rhapsody Fire Beads]

WOW! I have a story for ya! My ex hubby is welder/mechanic, and one day as he was grinding steal a sliver of it went into his eye! He thought it was just welder's flash so he didn't do anything about it. 3 weeks later he started to lose his vision in that eye and was sick. He went to the eye Dr. and they dug it out, but it had rusted his eye. They had to drill the rust out! He fainted. Horrible thing!! Luckily they got in time before he lost that eye.
Glad you are ok and got to the Dr. fast!!

[LavenderCreek]

I'm glad you're ok Glennie, yikes that IS scarey! My glasses broke the other day, one of the side thingies broke off so I need to get some new ones. I will definitely keep this in mind while shopping for some.

[misfit]

You have my sympathy. Sounds horrid. hope all is well in the future. The warning is appreciated.

A.

[Mr. Smiley]

Holy crap! That would scare me too! I'm glad you're ok... sheesh! I've got the heeby jeebies now.

[bumble_beads]

OMFG!!!!

On that note... I don't think I'll be torching today.

[Tink]

I highly recommend the goggles!

Also, remember that you can use a pure fuel flame to deal with shocky glass. It's about 850 degrees F, and eliminates the need to "dip" or preheat. Any carbon accumulation will disappear once you add O2 to the mix.

Glad you're ok. What a scare!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dogmaw]

Hope you are well soon! I love my goggles for lampworking.

[adovbs]

Wow, Glennie - that sure was a close call! I'm so glad you're going to be okay!

I am in the market for some better glasses, I will definitely be getting some with goggle or flap frames!

Teresa

[Moth]

Glenni, as someone who has had to have something dug out of their eye...my thoughts are with you. I cringed when I read your post.

I'm glad your injuries aren't permanent, but it is still flippin' scary!

After my accident (I was burning leaves in the back yard and something popped directly into my open eye..burns and debris..yuk), when it came time to pick lampworking goggles it wasn't hard for me to choose the goggles. I love them! LOVE THEM.

Get better soon, and take the pain pills they gave ya.

It heals quick, but hurts like the dickens til it does.
~~Mary

[FlameDancer]

OMG...I'm so glad you're okay...how scary that must have been! And, to think, I acutally tore those side thingys OFF my diddy's Maybe I should ask for a pair of the goggles for Christmas

[SadiesJewels]

Eeek ... that must have been really scary ... I will think about better all around type glasses from now on.

I have a scary story too ... I was wearing my goggles and grinding acrylic. Once I had finished I removed my goggles and ran my fingers through my hair to get the acrylic out of it. It took me 3 days to figure out what was in my eye - everytime I blinked I could feel something scratching. The opthamologist thought I was some kind of masochist for not going to her sooner. The acrylic had lodged itself in my eye under my eyelid ... so I always wear eyeprotection but flying hot glass is another thing to worry about!

sadie

[Calm Water Studio]

I appreciate all of the well wishes. I actually feel really blessed and lucky that it wasn't worse than it was.. the largest piece (and the one that made the largest burn) went in right over my iris.

The crazy thing about my accident is that I WAS wearing the protective goggle type glasses.. the glass went in in the tiny space between my nose and eye. I suppose I moved my head back at just the right angle to let the glass come in. It's crazy.

These have been a few CRAZY days recently... I hurt my eye in sort of a freakish accident, but before that, I had another sort of freakish accident of a different kind. I was painting part of a room.. putting some finishing touches on a recent paint job because I was getting ready for family to come over for a belated Thanksgiving meal. I later went into my breakfast room (two rooms over from the painted room) and found my two parakeets that a deceased aunt had given to me...DEAD on the floor of their cage. I'm supposing it was from the fumes. This aunt was really special to all of us, and every year when my family would come over, they would look at the birds, ask how they are, and say something to the effect of, "I'm so glad you have them. Aunt Louise would love how well you're taking care of them." So, in the madness of seeing her birds dead as a doornail with only hours until the family was to arrive, I get in my car and dash to the pet shop looking for turquoise parakeets.. and of course, they have none. I ask how easily food coloring can dye bird feathers... panic makes one think strange thoughts. I actually BOUGHT two birds that I was seriously going to dye with q-tips and food coloring. But, I just couldn't do it to the birds. I ended up feeding everyone.. waiting for what I thought was the right time to break it to them gently, and kindly announced that Aunt Louise's birds had 'passed.' My 8 year old was only too glad to tell them all why.

I'm rambling now... pain medication is good.

Anyway, thank you for the well wishes! I'm going to be paranoidingly careful from now on.. I hope you all will be, too.

[lunamoonshadow]

Aw Glennie...I think you could have tried Sharpie brand markers on the parakeets
(hugs)
~lyn

[MaureenKennedy]

I was fixing something with instant glue when the little bottle (metallic and not the now acrylic bottles) developed a leak and spurted instant glue into my eye. Naturally it glued shut. 911 paramedics couldn't figure out what to do about it and had me sit on the front porch with a flowing hose held to my eye. Now I was a caretaker for elderly sick parent with Parkinson's disease and thank goodness the ambulance people noise brought out neighbors so someone could watch my mother while I was carted off to the hospital. There was no eye doctor at the hospital (this is in Southeran California metropolitan area) and the hospital put me in a taxi cab to take me to a eye doctor uptown Whittier. The eye lashes had glue all over them and had glued some of them under the eye lid. As he was meticulously pulling off glue from each eyelash, he would not listen to me when I said "Just cut the damm things off!" Anyhow the glue on the eyelashes was causing deep scratches to the eyball, because (in case you didn't know it) you can't use one eyeball (the non-glued one) without the other eyeball moving too! So everytime I was looking with the good eye, it was harming the glued eye.

Because of that and other incidents, I always have taught my students to warm up glass rods by putting the end of the glass rod to their nose (as a reminder) and bobbing the rod into the flame head on - which causes the shocky glass to go away from the body and face. It just KILLS me to watch videos where people are introducing the glass into the flame sideways horizontally because of the very horrible thing that has happened to you. My sincere sympathies!

[PaulaD]

Wow. What a good reminder! Glad you are ok, Paula

[Tropical Heat]

Originally Posted by MaureenKennedy

Because of that and other incidents, I always have taught my students to warm up glass rods by putting the end of the glass rod to their nose (as a reminder) and bobbing the rod into the flame head on - which causes the shocky glass to go away from the body and face. It just KILLS me to watch videos where people are introducing the glass into the flame sideways horizontally because of the very horrible thing that has happened to you. My sincere sympathies!

This is very good advice. I actully do this when I use shocky glass, transparent mostly, and it does work.

Sorry you had such a bad experience. Hope your eye has a rapid and complete recovery. Hope your luck recovers too!

[Fana]

Glennie, I'm so sorry you got hurt, hope you will heal without any permanent scars.

Thank you and all the others who wrote in for the reminder to wear proper glasses. I have been torching lately with just my regular ones, guess I will never do that again.
_____
Sheila

[Rhapsody Fire Beads]

I am copying this thread to the safety area so it doesn't get flushed!!

~me~

[Kevan]

Yikes! This is a nightmare. I've had this nightmare.

[Gail Joseph]

OH wow! I'm glad you are okay. This brings back yucky memories from my second month lampworking. I was wearing the studio's basic glasses (with side thingies) over my own glasses. Shocky glass ricocheted off my cheek and onto my eye. I was concentrating on the pain on my cheek, and it wasn't really until the next morning (while teaching a college course) that I realized there was something seriously wrong with my eye. I cancelled my second class, called my PCP for a referral while driving to the opthamologist (and the b##tch receptionist told me I should call for referrals at least 5 days in advance). I told her I'd be sure to consult a psychic to find out the next time I have an accident.

The glass was no longer in my eye, but I had also burned my eye. Took quite a few weeks of antibiotics and drops (and steriods, I think) to clear it up. Thank God, no permanent damage...

But here's the question...I have yet to try on goggles that fit over my glasses, are there any that would fit? Even a welder's hood wouldn't work, since I now know I'm capable of having glass go up and under...

And I can't afford prescription bifocal ones (as much as I'd LOVE them). The stick on thingies don't work for me since my vision is too awful for every distance.

The only good thing here is that in the 1 3/4 years since that eye incident, I'm a little better at controlling shocky glass! That being said, I'd better not torch today, since I'll definitely jinx myself!--Gail