Attn: Welders...What takes away flash burn

I hope you had the beautician read these for ya...

 

Tea bags work!! I know this first hand.Over the years I have had a number of flashes.Not proud of it but there are times that a helmet can`t fit in where your working and you manage to flash yourself while in there. I have woke up in the middle of the night with what feels like sand in my eyes,I make my way through the house to find two tea bags,soke them in hot water and make my way back to bed.put the tea bags on my eyes and within 15 mins you will find the pain letting up,before you know it you off to sleep agian. Problem I have is the wife use to kill me for having tea bag stains on my pillow the next morning.lol.

 

DANGer! DO NOT LOOK AT ARC WITH REMAINING GOOD EYE!

Seriously my friend, take it from all these guys' experience. An auto darkening helmet will NEVER cost as much as an eye...... Thanks, Mike

 

This thread reminded me of one of the worst days in my life. We were three hours by 4x4 back in the mountains, putting grousier bars on the tracks of a cat. After a long day, we crawled back into the Power Wagon and headed down the hill. That was when the sand hit my eyes. The unbelievable pain was aggrivated by the horrible road and the fact that I could not lie down because the road was so rough.
I made a complete recovery ( lucky ) and went on to enjoy a 40 year flying career. I bought an auto darkening helmet when they first came out, and have never regretted the purchase.
My dad, who was a welder, had 2 corneal transplants done when he was 80, but he should have had them when he was 60. Safety wasn't much of an issue when he was welding in the '30s and '40s.
Bob
Bob

 

Man, I can't believe this thread is still going or the fact that people are still bashing away, the dude said that we wore a helmet when he was welding, it was just from the times he had his helmet up and accidentally brushed up against something that caused a spark, **** man, it happens to us all, just my .02

 

For those looking for welding clothing. Army Navy Surplus has the sleeves for $5! They have everything else also.

 

The worst flash i ever had was from two of us welding inside a stainless vessel. I used tea bags. And as i say earlier had my wife tape me eyes shut. Then drank lots of beer. The beer workers best with sleeping pills.

 

I had a friend who died welding up in a combine header. He grounded and electrocuted himself. His wife found him still smoking and at least had the prescence of mind not to touch him until the power was cut. DC has almost unlimited amperage and it doesn't let go of you like 220 AC or duty cycle out like 110 (either of which can still kill you) .

 

Welding since 1951-----I agree with the "Spuds", also use fresh beefsteake (hamburger) this has a tendency to "draw" the pain & swelling from your eyes.
In all my years of being a welder, I have found that guys with blue eyes are 90% more suceptical to a flash than guys with brown eyes!!
As an old pipe welder, another old tip is when you get a small piece of chipped flux in your eye---Tear off a match from a book of matches & use the fuzzy end to wipe out the lid for relief!---Then use medication, if needed.---Lord knows how many times I've done this from 'bell holeing" a pipe joint weld upside down in the ditch!!-----Don

 

I've heard this as well. Luckily for me my eyes are brown. Those holes in the weld-station screens can catch ya off guard sometimes.

 

so how long do you have to look at the arc before you get the burn?

when welding - grinding - welding - grinding and removing the helmet in between I've nodded my head to close the helmet and struck an arc before I realized my helmet was not on my head... did that a couple of times before I decided it was not a good idea. never got the "sand in my eyes" burn though. maybe I got cat like reflexes in my eyelids.

one thing I can tell you for certain, never put EAR drops in your eye when you have an irritation. that one burned a little.

 

yeah and don't go to kaiser the dumb ***** will pop your ear drum trying to get the piece of slag out, like she did me

 

my dad used to weld with a guy when he was a kid who wouldn't wear a helmet. he ran the welding shop at the farm he worked at. he would just go home and do the potato thing. my dad said the last time he seen him he was blind as a bat

 

oh man and that smell it terrible. not to mention you could hear it too hahahahaha

 

Sounds like you had a "radiation induced cataract", which is different than an "old age cataract". Old age cataracts form on the FRONT surface of the lense; radiation cataracts form on the BACK surface of the lense. Radiation comes from ALL spectrums of visible and non-visible light, thermionic emission, outer space, the sun, and source radiation (uranium, radiaum, that sort of thing-also called background radiation). This is something taught to us in Radiology/X-Ray. A dose of 5 RADS to the eyes, and you will develope a radiation cataract within 10 yrs. Now, have that radiation source just inches from your face, and the dose incident and time factor increase exponentially.I've never had to deal with flash burn myself, but I've seen it a lot. You've just had your one minute Radiobiolgy lesson for the day. Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

I was told tea bags, that have cooled down.

Nick.

 

I just read about your dilema,by now you should be feeling alot better.milk in the affected eye or potato slices(in season..of course) also helps.A couple of days for it to stop burning and you can come out in the daylight.

 

I get the same hot metal burns from doing machine work on malleable iron, you can get welding sleeves that are kevlar and lightweight, they are the yellow ones, MSC direct has em. I have them for machine stuff. have had to pull pieces of shavings off my arms that have burned into them before. I have the night vision problem too from being around a lot of welding. everything is a glare at night especially car lights. try to be careful but it happens. Oh check your hat for hot metal too, was cutting off rusted bolts one time,had my hat on the ground, didn't know the piece of bolt had flown into my hat until i slapped it back on, had a red scar on my forhead for months still have scarring thee.

 

+2 and not and el-cheapo knock off. Buy the best from Miller or Lincon you can afford.

 

I agree with this..I too had it happen pretty bad to me once..and I had lazer vision correction way before that time and was able to see like a hawk..now i have to wear gl***es to see, but for some reason it screwed with my distance vision..****s *** too because i got so used to not wearing gl***es..live and learn, now i have a good welding hood, and i wear a cap with a towel stiched to it so it cant get in from the side..learned that one from a guy that welded with 3 other guys around him in vessels all day long..he would get the arc flash from the guy behind, or beside him even though he was wearing a hood..
take good care of your eyes..you only get 2 of them

I know guys that were professional welders for many many years..they have alot of problems with their eyes, and most after they reached their mid 40's cant even p*** certification because they cant see for ****..some wear sungl***es most of the time, and others complain about certian lighting or dim lit areas being hard for them to see in..one friend and co-worker..never had to wear eye gl***es ..he does now

 

a hot chick with a nice set of ****s ,that have been in the freezer works good for any type of welding burn. just tell her that the eyes are still buning for the rest of the week.