Eye damage?

hello. My friend showed me how to weld yesterday. I never looked directly at the center. The problem was, i was unmasked and i looked at some surfaces in the garage (where he was welding) for a few minutes. Am i in trouble eyesight wise?

i was not unmasked all the time, but i was when i looked at the surfaces (shelves, trailor, walls,) that were illuminated. I was about 5 feet away from the welder, and 2-3 feet away from the illuminated surface

You might have suffered from a few 'sun-spots' in your eyes immediately after?
So long as you were not looking directly at the welding arc for any length of time you will be fine, even so, catching a 'flash' in the corner of your eye whilst observing is not too good...always wear proper eye/face protection when welding and when just watching
weldequip

ps.If you can't read this you could well have Arc-Eye & need urgent medical attention

hey thanks for the reply, i know this topic was out of place.

i never caught any glimpse of the center whatsoever. i was just worried because it is not something to mess with. I really only looked at a white trailer that was a few feet away from me that was illulminated and some metal shelves about 8 to 10 feet away. I actually never looked at what he was doing, just what was around him.

have you personally ever done what i mentioned?

On many occasions yes! Got caught out a lot when I was young & stupid...now I'm older, but still stupid! Seriously, I've never had full blown Arc-Eye but I've had some pretty worrying symptoms testing cheap Autoshields and some painfull 'sunburn' on the old upper arms when testing machines (gauntlets on but in the summer so t-shirt job). Many times I've thought "I'll just give that machine a quick test" & not bothered wearing any protection Exposed skin protection is just as important as the eye protection...only you don't realise until you wake up the morning after
weldequip

so i have nothing to worry about then?

No. Just remember the full face protection and exposed skin protection as & when you have a go yourself
weldequip

You'd know by now if you had a problem!

As Weldequip says just make sure you are more careful next time. You only get one set of eyes.

how would i know if i had a problem?

IKixAnimals said:

how would i know if i had a problem?

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You would be in a whole world of pain. Arc Eye is quite painful.

I used to use a live torch welder. Just about every time I used it I managed to get a flash. In the evening I would suffer with what felt like conjunctivitis in both eyes.
I guess it was quite minor as I hear that proper arc eye feels like sand in your eyes and can last for up to 2 days. Good stewed tea bags placed on closed eyes has an effect in some pain relief. To prevent this I got a pair of anti flash specs. They prevent arc eye if you get a flash and can be worn all the time in the workshop, even under your welding helmet.

Yes you would defo know it if you had arc-eye.

It does hurt but thats not all, It does not seem to start right away it sneeks up on you. I was ok all day then I went to bed and woke up in the early hours with pain, so I went down stairs and then it started.

It's so bad you just don't know what to do, I could not open my eyes or keep them shut Just blinking all the time. Its like your eyes are really dry with grit in, I was so scared thought I was going to go blind.

Accidents do happen no matter how safe you think you are, It makes me laugh when I see people welding without a mask. You only get 2 you can't get eyes on ebay, Not yet anyway.

i think you can get the googly ones

Aeons back I decided to weld myself up some loudspeaker stands using a stick set borrowed from my old man's neighbour. Unfortunately the rods were damp (as I found out later) and my technique was crap - the old guy, despite being handy with oxy-acet was no better than me with a wand - and to make matters worse I couldn't see a damn thing through the shield (middle of February, welding at night by a fluorescent strip light) so in my infinite wisdom I decided to use the nice green goggles hanging on the oxy bottle.
The welding was no better but at least I could see where it was going
Anyway I went back to my flat, had a beer and wandered off to bed.
About 5AM I woke up in the most horrific pain I think I've ever had in my life. Unless you've had it you really can't imagine it. As stated earlier, it felt like someone was rubbing sand in my eyes. I spent 2 days walking around wearing sunglasses (in February, remember) with both eyes streaming constantly - couldn't even sleep because closing them was just as painful.
I still have the speaker stands (must grind those welds out and redo them sometime!) and I've just worked out that there's no more than 40 inches of weld on them. That's how little it took to cause so much grief.

i was welding underneath my transit at the w/end right up in the rear corner of a pick- up..............due to not wearing proper safety clothing i'm now covered in nice wee burns

I got arc eye once using one of those silly hand held sheilds, several hours after a 30 minute welding session I had a migrane, my eyes felt like someone was rubbing salt into them and they clamped shut streaming.

I had to get my sister to take me to the local A&E dept, where they put some MAGIC drops in them, (local anesthetic) and antibiotic drops. They explained what it was, apparently the arc sunburns the eyeball and after a short time the top layers of skin peel away (feels like sand in your eyes), the anesthetic drops just numb the eyeball.

don't take any chances, its a horrible thing to have to suffer.

ive had arc eye once when i was 18 its bad you wake up the next day like you have sand in your eyes since i got arc eye i were a pair of goggles under my face mask you only have one pair of eyes mate

Sorry to bring you down guys and I know this is slightly O/T, but relevent. a lifelong welder I know (now aged 50ish) has developed skin cancer around his neck. The Medics say it's caused by long exposure to UV...from welding.
I think it makes the point- certainly to me. Cover up!

-Telemig

Telemig said:

Sorry to bring you down guys and I know this is slightly O/T, but relevent. a lifelong welder I know (now aged 50ish) has developed skin cancer around his neck. The Medics say it's caused by long exposure to UV...from welding.
I think it makes the point- certainly to me. Cover up!

-Telemig

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I am always sporting a UV turkey neck, point taken!! Ill cover up

ive heard an old wives tale that if you wear safety clear glasses then if you get a flash you wont get arc eye is this right

wont matter when santa sorts out my auto helmet