Flash Burn

[nfinch86]

Hey.
Don't do that, everyone is welcome here. Do you weld?? I also am in the medical field, and like to interact with the weldors on the board. They are a great group of knowlegable people!!
Nick

Nick, I'll second that !! Hey Doc, Hang around for all the Fun !!

............... Norm

[mikeswelding]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are the first credible voice to support what some of us have been saying: Do not listen to the folk remedies regarding flash burn.

[landreo]

I am just a hack when it comes to welding. I fool with old tractors and other things like that and occasionally need to weld something. I was going to be a welder when I was in highschool but that did not fly with my father!
My first welder was basically a toaster with resistance coils that limited the current, the welding rod was still at 120 volts. It would not weld much and later as a teenager I got real transformer welder that was just a 5 gal bucket filled with oil and a homemade transformer. The taps were just wingnuts. Worked well and did alot of practicing with old rods and a helmet given to me by my uncle. Eventially my father gave me a Montomery Wards AC/DC welder as a christmas present when I was in college. I still have that welder along with a 1970s Hobart welder generator and a small hobart MIG welder. I still use a oxygen propane Sears torch from the early 1970s which also was some sort of a present when I was a child.

I was blissfully ignorant of the process involved in welding until the internet came along. I am amazed from reading these boards as to how much science and theory goes into the profession of welding. I have learned alot over the past few years.

[davedarragh]

I had to register to get in on this thread. I have been visiting this board for a while but I'm just a hack hobby welder so I never felt the need to formally join the board. I am not smart enough about welding to offer any opinion about welding techniques etc...

In real life I am an ophthalmologist so I do know and understand the treatment of welder's flash or UV keratitis as it is know by eye docs. Cooling the eye lids with a bag of frozen peas, potato slices and so on will help with the discomfort but will not help the healing. Potato juice in the eye or any non sterile liquid can be bad. Certain types of bacteria can go through and destroy the eye in 24 hours! Let the docs determine the extent of damage and advise you on the best treatment options, don't rely on your neighbor's aunt's best friend to determine which home treatment would work.

Contact lenses will not focus the flash on the eye and make things worse, just an old tale that has no basis in fact. Contact lenses may be placed on the eye as a clear bandage to provide comfort while healing, commonly done after certain types of refractive surgery. No eye doc tapes or patches the eye for flash burns, the pain is actually worse with patching. Antibiotic ointment, liquid tears, pain meds and a dark room is typically all that is needed.

Looking at the sun was part of a religious thing in Colorado and I had one patient that did manage to burn the retina and loose vision. Don't do that thinking it will somehow help with flashing.

A flash burn is a sunburn of the cornea or clear part of the eye, it can be a mild gritty feeling or may be severe pain with poor vision but typically causes no permanent damage and will resolve from a few hours to a few days depending on the extent.

I'll go back to being a lurker.

Landreo: You're the most qualified to answer ANY vision related issues on this board! Please hang around, we can learn a lot!

Dave

[Broccoli1]

I used to get flashburn regularly till I started to wear reading glasses, then it stopped, I guess the plastic in the lens blocks some of the UV rays or something.

Yes.

Good ideer to wear safety glasses- besides protection from little missiles- is that they provide UV protection.

This is the best breakdown of Ultraviolet, visible and infrared radiation hazards

http://www.twi.co.uk/content/faq_radiation.html

[ctraugh2005]

When is this idiocy going to stop? No, a quick direct look at the sun will not prevent flashburn, nor will looking at it straight on!! Get a freakin' clue!

I guess being an "old time welder" makes it alright to be rude. I dont know what gives you the right to insult me like that. I said nothing wrong in my post, I didnt say that by looking straight on a weld will prevent you from getting burned. I guess I need to make myself more clear.

When I went to the doctors that day and he asked me what I did I told him I was helping a few welders and I wasnt looking at the welds, he then told me that you can get burned worse when you dont look at the welds because you dont feel the pain as much as if you look straight on.

Im not saying to use any old time cures, I recumend going to the doctors anytime you burn your eyes, and yes I do have a clue.

I may be new to the forums, I am not new to welding.

Have a good day,
Chris

[JSFAB]

All I will say is this. Years ago, had to be cool, wore contacts. Got flashed, not a terribly lot of times, but it still happened. At some point I decided, I was a handsome s exy dude, with or without glasses, tossed the contacts, started wearing cool tinted glass glasses, for regular life, and picking up girls. Also had several pairs, of prescription safety glasses made up. Full UV, IR protection. Never had another flash. Co-oincidence, or just getting older and smarter??? Who knows. Probably a little of both.

Landreo, is correct, about contacts,,,, they don't make a difference, as far as damage. MY experience, has only to do with the fact, once I quit contacts, I always had another level of protection, safety glasses, over my eyes in addition to the proper required level of protection,,,, ie, full face shield, welding hood, etc.

And once, you've ever tried digging contacts out of your eyes, after a flash, you don't ever particularly want to do it again.

I will note also, most shops today, require ANYBODY, whether employees, salesmen, potential customers, whoever, touring the shop, anywhere near the shop, wear safety glasses. And the employees especially, need to have their glasses on at all times, a double level of protection, even under the full face shield or welding hood.

And the "handsome" part???? I don't know if the glasses are good or bad, but I still got good hair. Ask Broccoli, we've met before.

[JSFAB]

Landreo, I do make it a point, of telling the eye doc my history, anytime I get a new prescription. Sounds like you would know, is it safe, to assume, if there's any permanent damage, he could tell, either by looking in your eyeballs, or thru the various tests???? I always ask him, particularly,,, to look for this, you have to understand, I already can't hear, I don't want to be the next Hellen Keller. Amazing, admirable lady, of course, but I sure don't want to be both blind and deaf.

My understanding, too many flash-burns, or too strong flash-burns, you burn the back wall of the retina, and you loose certain "spaces" within your field of vision.

Correct, or not??? Understand, this is probably the most mis-understood, and most mis-represented part of the whole industry. Also understand,,,,, I'm not gonna take what some guy says on the interweb, as gospel, but anything you do say, gives me more information, to check out further, with my own eye-doc, next time I see him. But I would appreciate, any particular comments or observations you might have.

[landreo]

The light from welding is UV, visible, and infrared. It is the UV light that causes the corneal burn and can also cause cataract formation. Little of the UV light gets all the way to the retina but there is still some discussion and disagreement of the effects of that small amount of UV and the potential to damage the retina. UV damage to the cornea is the welders flash and most eye docs agree there is really no permanent damage. However, strong UV light can damage the genetics of tissue and may cause damage that is not clinically visible, so there may be permanent damage in addition to the acute pain. Strong visible and infrared light can damage the retina with long enough exposure and give blind spots in the vision. Unlikely with a flash but possible with long exposure.

Contact lenses may "stick" to the cornea and have to be removed while treating a welders flash. We also occasionally place a contact lens on the eye as clear bandage over the eye during treatment for welders flash. The contacts will not focus the light on the cornea nor will contact lenses melt or make the flash damage worse.

Welders flash is a sunburn of the front of the eye and can be very painfull but should heal without any permanent vision loss. However, strong UV light can damage the chromosomes of tissue and may well cause some unseen long term effects, not much is known at this time.

A discomfort in the eyes may be dryness, dust, fumes, or welders flash. Not all mild discomfort needs the attention of a doc but if the discomfort is getting worse and not better then seek some medical advice. Also, if your eye is uncomfortable, take out the contact lenses, they will only make things worse.

[JSFAB]

Thanks, Landreo. I think you probably just explained the whole thing about arc rays, light, eye damage better than anybody ever has, on this board, or any other message board I've read.