sore eye's after welding

[norman lovie]

Hi,
last week I was welding with tig + a new light sensitive mask
spent the week with itchy watery eyes that were sensitive to any light ( TV etc..)
now i was doing a few things that could have caused this from acid vapour to sanding dust - however although I did not suffer any arc flash or discomfort whilst welding - I do use the mask on low sensitivity with long delay, can you get eye damage because of this - even though there is not aparant issue at the time ?
thanks

 

[jonjoe]

no even if you had the helmet down low it wouldn't do any harm and the long delay is how long it stays dark for after the weld so doesn't make any difference

 

[langy]

Even on a light shade mine don't do that, it's called arc eye and you need to check your lid pronto, you only get 1 pair of eyes

 

[norman lovie]

thanks - i,ll give a trial without any other possible causes and see if this is the issue

 

[Sean]

light coloured clothing - light coloured or shiny mask? working on shiny stainless? could be reflected light. even on clear the lens should filter out the dangerous stuff.

 

[Seano]

As langy said, get your bucket checked out, what settng do you have it set at ? is it adjustable ? or is it single shade ?

 

[DrNik]

dont worry no lasting damage cause, the body is very resilient, and calms down after a day or so

 

[the snooper]

spent the week with itchy watery eyes that were sensitive to any light ( TV etc..)

ive had a welding flash and non of the above symptoms

they start out with your eyes stinging as if you were very tired then progress on to be very painful as if you have had sand thrown in your eyes, if all you had were the above symptoms i would go to the docs doesnt sound like a flash to me

 

[CompoSimmonite]

ive had a welding flash and non of the above symptoms

they start out with your eyes stinging as if you were very tired then progress on to be very painful as if you have had sand thrown in your eyes, if all you had were the above symptoms i would go to the docs doesnt sound like a flash to me

Same here.
Got a flash but managed to finish off the job then started to suffer later in the day. Ended up at A&E next day, had to wear an eye patch and was off work for over a week.

Paul H

 

[langy]

dont worry no lasting damage cause, the body is very resilient, and calms down after a day or so

I don't really understand this response, you only get 1 pair of eyes, best look after them !!!

 

[marc.w]

It does sound like a relatively mild case of arc eye, though strange it went on for about a week. Usually it only lasts a day or 2 and is much worse at night. You'll now when you got a proper dose of arc eye, it feels like you have sand in your eyes. I used to get caught quite a bit years ago, When I first had a go at welding(aged about 17) I thought "well how bad can arc eye be?" so I didnt bother with the face mask. Ouch!! I learnt that lesson very quickly. I used to work as a welder's mate on oil & gas pipelines when I was younger, and the welders would always suggest cold used tea bags for soothing it, it seemed to help.