Drop of CA in the eye...

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Chrisjan

Chrisjan

Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2012
Messages
111
Location
Pretoria, South Africa
Good day fellow pen turners, I wont consider myself a rookie anymore - but I got a drop of thick CA in the eye last night... a Quick visit to the Emergency Room at the close by hospital had a lot of nursing staff giggling in their sleeve!

I was trying to finish a pepper mill's before going to bed; sanding at the highest speed - got distracted by a call from the house - got back started the lathe and got the ca and my plastic bag and started applying the CA with my safety glasses on top of my head... only on the third ring did it catch me in the eye!

Then I stood back and realized i should not have tried this at 22:30 on a Saturday night after the visitors left... Mistake no 1. Not putting on the goggles... Mistake No 2. Not turning down the speed of the lathe. Mistake 3. doctors wont even touch anything over the pupil...

But there's some lessons to be learned; Lesson 1. Get a face shield... Lesson 2. get some other speed regulating mechanism that always starts slow... Lesson 3. Any Vaseline based eye ointment will start the breaking down process of ca... Lessen 4. Use a drop of local anesthetic, lots of ointment and patch it closed. The drop would have come loose during the night. Lesson 5. You wife doesn't like fishing for a hardened drop a ca in you eye full of tears, ointment and other bodily fluids...

Close Call - learn as much as possible from others mistakes - but don't forget the ones learned the hard way... My eyes and I visit my local hospital's emergency room once every two years - usually just before Christmas...

Merry Christmas you all and be safe!
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
sounds like santa clause brought you a present early, a learning experience, I put some ca on a cut to super glue it,big mistake,I dont know who was howling the most me or the dogs,burned real good,good thing i did not put the activator on it
 
That's why I had goggles and face shield from the start. I'm scared to death of damaging or losing my eyes. Ever since I was little and a gnat flew into my eye, and I had to fish it out with a q-tip, I've been careful about my eyes. I don't like driving with the windows down if I don't have some good sunglasses. I always get something in my eyes.

Please be careful.
 
I have a pair of safety glasses with a line of c.a. drops across the left lense... after getting them back from the safety ladies display case, i always set them on my lathe as a reminder.
 
carpblaster said:
sounds like santa clause brought you a present early, a learning experience, I put some ca on a cut to super glue it,big mistake,I dont know who was howling the most me or the dogs,burned real good,good thing i did not put the activator on it
Click to expand...


Strange. I use CA all the time on cuts. was there something on your skin that caused a reaction?
 
I never forget my safety glasses !! Fact is, I can't see or do to much of anything without them !! Be smart, be safe !! Jim S
 
CA is nasty on skin. The stuff we use in hospitals in altered chemically to be less caustic. The exothermic reaction of the cure doesn't help either! CA won't harm your eye itself...it can't cure and will just wad up. Eyelids are, as you found out Chris, are a different story. Tx is real easy...what will make you krindge is the tx for the 4 hour Viagara "thing"...almost made me sick!!
 
The Material Safety Data Sheet on CA shows a pattern. They address getting it in your eyes, as well as other possible problems.

The short version, the body's "water" will make the CA harden and it will fall off in less than a day. (It will be an uncomfortable day!!)

http://www.e-zbond.com/PDF/S105_S110_S120_S180_I1605.pdf

You really SHOULD read this NOW!!! It will not make you feel better when you have an accident, but it WILL reassure you that no "long-term damage" is likely!
 
It seems to me CA was used in the battlefields to close wounds. It has been said that it burns, mine didn't until I put accelerator on it, it even started smoking, now that's a burning you won't soon forget. It hurt so bad I tried to chewed off of my teeth and got some on my tongue, ya baby, it was a bad day. Lessoned learned.
 
There are other ways of finishing pens that are not so dangerous. I no longer use any CA on my pens. I am allergic to the fumes. I am not sure if this is a bad thing as I have learned other ways and still get good results.

Mike
 
Been there, done that and have the $1,000 ER bill receipt to show for it! The bad thing is, I WAS wearing a full face shield but it still flew up and under in right into my eye. As soon as it happened, I pulled up an MSDS and figured it would be ok. After a couple of hours with terrible pain, I decided to go to the ER. They could not do anything other than flush the eye and give me some great topical anesthetic in the eye. At the time, the $1000 bill was worth it for the pain relief!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom