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eye foreign body

G

Gretch Flo

Joined
Jun 9, 2004
Messages
1,223
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49
Location
Haslett, Michigan
Ok guys (and gals). Last night I had the 3rd foreign body in my eye over the last 8-10 years. Arose from the shop basement at 7 pm and washed my arms and face. Then changed my T shirt/pants. A minute or 2 later while making a salad, a "chunk" fell into my eye. ( probably from my hair- changing shirts.) Used cordial "shot" glass ( knew it was good for something) to rinse eye ball-several times-it was quite painful-more than my other for. bodies. I though maybe I should be using the shot glass in another way!!!
After fussing 30 minutes with eye tricks, I called my friendly veterinary ophthalmologist and he met me at the veterinary clinic in 20 minutes after inquiring if I could drive. He numbed it, scanned with slit lamp, then rolled the lid back and there it was (I had told him he couldn't miss it-it was as large as a golf ball) . He snatched it out with a Q tip. Said it was very sharp, and embedded -almost like someone had cut it with a sharp gauge!!!! It was no speck. I could see it without my glasses on!!!! (1/16"+???) If I went to the human emergency room I would still be there 12 hours later.
My other foreign body came when I put on my face shield. Can't remember the circumstances of the other saw dust foreign body.
Moral of the story=#1-sometimes it just doesn't pay to get out of bed-
#2 Get to know a friendly ophthalmologist!!!!!Not sure how I can prevent this sort of problem. Others out there have similar issues??????Feeling good this am and about to hit the basement,😀 Gretch
 
Wow, Gretch......with your other bad luck experience you had the other day, I'm amazed you're still chipper and itching to get back at your lathe! :cool2:

Glad you had a happy ending........

There really isn't much you can do about this besides install an industrial safety shower and changing clothes in your garage! Blowing with air, using a vac, whatever......nothing seems to be 100 percent reliable.

I've gotten foreign material in my eye more times than I can count, but (knock on wood), my luck has been holding out for me and haven't ever needed to seek medical attention. I even bought one of those wrap-around safety glasses that make a seal on your face, but managed to shoot a little spec of wood dust through the vent hole when I was blowing off the debris from the lathe.....just ain't no justice! Ha! 🙄

You have some very caring and helpful friends!

Carry on, lady...........😀

ooc
 
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People pay me to take things out of their eyes and I have several suggestions--
1. I get a lot of dust drifting down from my hair after turning (a few more years and this will cease to be a problem🙁) and have taken to wearing a motorcycle man bandana while turning. It's one more thing that comes off prior to leaving the shop and the dust behind. My faceshield and respirator fit over it very easily.
2. Most of those pesky under the lid foreign bodies can be removed with the 'pull your upper lid over your lower lashes' trick. You probably tried it and your vet friend explained why you were unsuccessful in commenting on the embedded/sharp properties.
3. Every wood working shop and fire wood cutting area should have some eye wash handy. It's only $4 at wally world and should be more comfortable than plain water. It comes in a squeeze bottle that allows you to squirt a comfortable stream, which I think works better than the cup. Those of us who are fussy about our eyes will need assistance with this. It helps to keep both eyes open.

Dean Center
 
We learned early on teaching kids

That we had to include a statement like

Wash you hands before rubbing your eyes.
For some reason a large percentage of kids want to lift up their face shields and rub their eyes while their hands ae covered with chips?
 
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Please think about writing an article for AW.

Dean Center said:
People pay me to take things out of their eyes and I have several suggestions--
1. I get a lot of dust drifting down from my hair after turning (a few more years and this will cease to be a problem🙁) and have taken to wearing a motorcycle man bandana while turning. It's one more thing that comes off prior to leaving the shop and the dust behind. My faceshield and respirator fit over it very easily.
2. Most of those pesky under the lid foreign bodies can be removed with the 'pull your upper lid over your lower lashes' trick. You probably tried it and your vet friend explained why you were unsuccessful in commenting on the embedded/sharp properties.
3. Every wood working shop and fire wood cutting area should have some eye wash handy. It's only $4 at wally world and should be more comfortable than plain water. It comes in a squeeze bottle that allows you to squirt a comfortable stream, which I think works better than the cup. Those of us who are fussy about our eyes will need assistance with this. It helps to keep both eyes open.

Dean Center
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Hi Dean!

Thanks for the advice - I will look into getting one of these eye wash kits for my shop to have on hand. We're required to have them in our research and teaching labs, and it makes sense to have one in the shop too. I never made the connection between work and my shop. (BTW - What is in the solution these kits dispense? Is it just isotonic saline solution?)

I might make a suggestion that you consider writing a short article on eye care first aid following "violation by miscellaneous particles in the eye" for American Woodturner. This kind of information would be very useful to all members of the AAW (....and even those turners who haven't yet seen the light and joined!), and disseminating good advice regarding eye safety and management of such "stuff in the eye" conditions might help save some pain and suffering (or worse) for many in the future. I'm guessing that Betty would welcome such a contribution, and you would be doing the woodturning community a great service.

Gretch - glad you had the situation taken care of successfully!! BTW - Have you checked the date when you need your next rabies and distemper shots? 😉

Rob Wallace
 
a Rabid shot and a tetanus shot need to be on every wood worker list, I can not advise you about keeping foreign objects out of your eyes but will ADVISE against driving your car in this condition, one -eye driving are very hard because you can not judge distance
 
Dean Center said:
3. Every wood working shop and fire wood cutting area should have some eye wash handy. It's only $4 at wally world and should be more comfortable than plain water. It comes in a squeeze bottle that allows you to squirt a comfortable stream, which I think works better than the cup. Those of us who are fussy about our eyes will need assistance with this. It helps to keep both eyes open.

Dean Center
Click to expand...

Thanks Dean-good idea!!! Gretch
 
Rob Wallace said:
Hi Dean!

Thanks for the advice - I will look into getting one of these eye wash kits for my shop to have on hand. We're required to have them in our research and teaching labs, and it makes sense to have one in the shop too. I never made the connection between work and my shop. (BTW - What is in the solution these kits dispense? Is it just isotonic saline solution?)

I might make a suggestion that you consider writing a short article on eye care first aid following "violation by miscellaneous particles in the eye" for American Woodturner.


Rob Wallace
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Good idea!!-Gretch

BTW - Have you checked the date when you need your next rabies and distemper shots? 😉

University (for NIH funding) now requires it's animal workers to have rabies shots. I work with healthy animals that are hit by cars or have torn ligaments, hip dysplasia, etc and don't deal with "sick" animals. Plus I only work one week a month now there, and 2 days a month up north, being "retired" and all.
The last rabies shot I had my arm swelled up. I also found out us vet students were Guinea pigs for new vac, some people had some bad reactions I heard. I don't trust them!!!. I asked for a waiver a month ago and got it..
I am also lax on my "distemper" shots, and maybe that's why I am good natured!!!!! Tetanus up to date-now that's important with dealing with rust and penetrating wounds.
By the way about 3 years ago, had a small white mulberry bowl fly off and hit me above my glove. 1"+ small laceration that didn't bleed much. Found out why-4-6 weeks later it began to fester and I pulled out 1/2" "sliver" and 2 days later 1/4" sliver -had a wooden "plug" stop the bleeding. My scar is elevated and when I squeeze it lengthwise, it doesn't collapse-more in there , but doesn't hurt, and isn't reactive around it. So this is my mulberry vaccine. 😀 Gretch
 
Keep a bottle of CA debonder next to that eywash station.

Another good reason for shaving wood rather than throwing it around where it might land on your head. Even if you don't shave it, keeping the rpm lower will lower its apogee.

The "do rag" will shed fine dust which landed on it when removed, just as any other head covering. Nothing much gained there except "helmet head" control.
 
I'm glad everything is OK. My father had to have a steel sliver dug out of his eye. It was handy for your vet to help out here. Did he give you a doggie biscuit and scratch behind your ears?😀
 
John Torchick said:
I'm glad everything is OK. My father had to have a steel sliver dug out of his eye. It was handy for your vet to help out here. Did he give you a doggie biscuit and scratch behind your ears?😀
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No, but he was very gentle, and I owe him and his wife (she's a vet surgeon) a bottle of champagne. BTW (the small talk while getting the log out of my eye) some may remember my story 2 years ago when their 18 year old son was in a car accident that killed 3 others in his car (he was in the back seat) and 1 or 2 others in the other car in a head on accident. Besides some fx'd bones and several fx's in the hand, he is back taking a full load at MSU, can play the piano again-plans to be a surgeon. Moral of that story was "don't sweat the small stuff". Gretch
 
eye problems

Am I the only one that saw the Biblical reference here about a piece of wood in your eye?

On a preventative note, I use compressed air (with eyes closed) to clear any debris out of my hair, clothes, shoe laces etc after turning to avoid bringing into other areas of the house. This should minimize opportunities for the problem to occur after turning is done. And if you keep debonder near the eye wash station as MM suggested make sure you don't get them confused when your temporarily blinded! 🙂
 
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Don't blow-off your head!!! (Words to live by!)

Thomas Stegall said:
On a preventative note, I use compressed air (with eyes closed) to clear any debris out of my hair, clothes, shoe laces etc after turning to avoid bringing into other areas of the house. This should minimize opportunities for the problem to occur after turning is done. And if you keep debonder near the eye wash station as MM suggested make sure you don't get them confused when your temporarily blinded! 🙂
Click to expand...

One word of warning - be VERY careful when blowing off ANY part of your head - one false move and you could be blasting compressed air down your ear canal, and have the very likely possibility of damaging your eardrum(s). While I still use the compressed air to dust off non-head body parts and clothes like Thomas suggests, I rarely now ever use the compressed air to dust off my head/hair. I once came awfully close to blowing air into my ear canal while dusting off my hair. The pressure change alone (Bernoulli effect) with fast-moving air going past my ear (fortunately not into it!) was enough to elicit a fairly painful ringing that lasted well beyond 1/2 hour. I WILL NOT do that ever again!

DON'T dust off your head with compressed air! If you do, be EXTREMELY careful to avoid your eyes and ears!!

YMMV,

Rob Wallace
 
by all means , keep the air nozzle away from your ears ,eyes, mouth and nose. all of the above are connected except for your eyes and the air pressure might connect them
 
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