Well I found out the hard way our auto-darkening helmet either is out of time or lens shade is not dark enough for the type of welding I was doing yesterday. Took 12 hours then it hit me. Couldnt open my eyes at all and was fairly high pain on the ole eyeballs. I suffered it out with a cold wash cloth and am 70% today. I was wondering what some of you ole veteran welders would recommend for this type of injury if it would ever happen again??? (I hope it never again) but just in case.
Welder burn on your eyes?
- Thread starter Himark
- Start date
I've never had a very bad case of flash burn, but my old welding instructor used to say that slices of raw potatoes on the eyes would help if you laid on your back. I personally would never do that. Try using some eye drops, it helps with the irritation. Your best bet is a good lens my personal fav is the jackson nexgen. It doesn't have the annoying green tint and looks more natural. Some of the cheaper lenses don't darken quick enough and can lighten up in the middle of welding. The jackson lense is about $300 but it's worth it if you can afford it. I also like it much better than the speedglass hoods. Good luck.
Cut a potato in slices and rest them on your eyelids, I like mine on the chilly side. There are some eye drops that can be given by prescription that are suppose to contain a pain reliever but haven't ever had it that bad to warrant going. But i know it does suck and the cheaper auto helmets dont dim fast enough.
I got flashed pretty hard a couple of years ago. It didn't hurt too bad while I was doing it. It was horrible in the middle of the night.
E
Ex-Member
ACCOUNT CLOSED
yep, never had that problem with 'em
Sliced potato, room temp worked for me. Dr. used to be able to prescribe a thick eyedrop called Pontacaine (sp). I'm not sure if is even still allowed. It worked like a charm, numbed the pain/discomfort. Problem was it worked too well, welder would use it and go back to welding, resulting in more damage. (I know the hard way.) I no longer weld, do welding inspection instead, just being around the flash often results in a night of discomfort. Dark glasses are a must in sunlight. Protect the one set you have, sucks to pay for errors of youth now.
Old school hood and cobalt blue lens is hard to beat.
Old school hood and cobalt blue lens is hard to beat.
M
maddog21
Well-known member
my friend said his friend stand there and watched somebody welding without eye protection. he just stand there for like many mins and later that night his eyes was crying it out. it was bad. im sure hes fine now that was when he was in high school.
I am deaf with my hearing loss when i was baby so my eyes is all i got. i do welding all the time at home. nothing bother me at all.
I am deaf with my hearing loss when i was baby so my eyes is all i got. i do welding all the time at home. nothing bother me at all.
H
H2SNOW
ACCOUNT CLOSED
my friend said his friend stand there and watched somebody welding without eye protection. he just stand there for like many mins and later that night his eyes was crying it out. it was bad. im sure hes fine now that was when he was in high school.
I am deaf with my hearing loss when i was baby so my eyes is all i got. i do welding all the time at home. nothing bother me at all.
don't wanna loose them now do ya
I am deaf with my hearing loss when i was baby so my eyes is all i got. i do welding all the time at home. nothing bother me at all.
don't wanna loose them now do ya
Probably the most boneheaded move I ever did concerning welding was with a MIG gun in tight quarters. Got the bright idea to put welding lens in cutting goggles to make weld I couldn't easily get to with a regular hood on. WOW ...... eyes were fine, but I looked like a shedding snake for 2 weeks by the time all the burnt skin came off my cheeks and forehead.
Looking back it's funny now, the stupid things we do when young ........
Looking back it's funny now, the stupid things we do when young ........
0
06 RMK 900
Well-known member
I know how this feels, I was TIG welding in a T-shirt in a small area and it looked like I had stood outside on a 110 degree day I was so sun burnt. One day I had to weld out in the field on the chisal plow and I didn't have a helmet so I just didn't really look at the acre...well I didn't feel it right away but within a few hours felt like I had sand in my eyes. I did what you did and put a wash cloth on them and I also wore sunglasses everywhere.
in a Highschool shop class worked on the mill, milling some parts for a go-cart chassis while across the shop some more buddies were working on welding the chassis together. Worked in their all day from about 5am to midnight, woke up the next morning blind! I got welders flash from the flash bouncing off the wall. Never welded the entire day. My body refused to open my eyelids whenever my eyes seen light. It was a horrible feeling, not being able to use your eye muscles. I was home alone at the time and decided to force my eyes open with my hands. BAD CHOICE! Made everything worse. Cant explain welders flash to someone, just something that you have to experience to know what its like. Don't have much of a remedy to fix it, I just suffered through it for the next few days.
Never had a Flash. I have MIG, TIG and Stick welders here. Much easier to TIG with a AUto darkening lid LOL. But ya, I've tried to get flashed. My career as an Industrial Electrician, Ive worked around welders for many years in sawmill construction. Just never got a flash....
Let me guess, you were TIG welding.
Not all auto glass is rated for TIG welding. Your doing real damage, get a good helmet, or switch back to flip down.
Not all auto glass is rated for TIG welding. Your doing real damage, get a good helmet, or switch back to flip down.
EX seabee steel worker only allowed to use good old flip down I have been welding for a long time now never had Ieye problems but have always used flip down with a dark lens
need the shades.......when I was young (1957) working on construction up in Saco MONT. I had to do a lot of welding in the summer, I got flash burned on the skin many times even thru clothing and the eye burn arounf the side of mt helmet, for the eyes it was the raw potato , that did the trick, and the flash burn, just sunburn treatment............Those auto dark lenses are not goot if you are doing a lot of spot welding. A millisecond of flash 100 times will hurt you.
Flash burn is the worst, especially on the eyes.
Flash burn is the worst, especially on the eyes.
E
Ex-Member
ACCOUNT CLOSED
hah, yep.
One guy where I used to work asked me why I always had sunscreen on the bench when I was welding.
my dad was welding inside of bear traps for a guy last spring without anything covering his neck. he had the nastiest burns on his neck from the light reflecting around inside.
I can tell ya what the doctors will give ya- some prescription triple antibiotic ointment- pretty much the same over-the-counter stuff you can buy, at 10x the cost, bandages to put over your eyes with some tape, and some pain killers. Been there, done that. Torched my eyes so good one day tacking farm gates together, that 2-3 hours after work, my eyes were killing me. Wasn't getting the helmet down quick enough, and had flashed myself multiple times during the day. Sand? Yeah, for the first hour or so... can't really describe it after that. I'm pretty careful these days.
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