Major Eye Problems

[DitchPlains2]

SADLY, i DID SOMETHING MAJORILY STUPID!!

I ADDED SOME NEW ROCK WITH MY HAILDES ON FOR NEARLY 1HR AND 1/2 WITHOUT EYE PROTECTION.

NOT SURE IF I AM JUST DUMB OR RETARTED AT THIS POINT.


I JUST GOT BACK FROM THE ER, AND FROM SEEING AN OPTOMOLOGIST!

I HAVE SEVERE EYE BURNS, LUVKILY SO FAR NOT MAJOR RETINA OR CORNEA DAMAGE, BUT POSSIBLE DESTROYED NUMEROUS PHOTRECEPTORS, AND COMPLETELY DRIED OUT MY EYES FROM THE INTENSE HEAT (450 WATT 3 DE'S AT 10, AND 2 14K)

TYPING THIS WITH SUNGLASSES ON, USING NUMEROUS DROPS FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS, AS MY EYES ARE STILL DIALATED FROM THE VISION EXAM.


WORD TO THE WISE.....DO NOT KEEP MH LIGHTS ON EVEN WHEN WORKING OR LOOKING DOWN INTO TANK, YOUR EYES CAN RECIEVE LIGHT FROM ALL ANGLE. I MAY EVENTUALLY GET CATARACTS OR MAY HAVE PERMANENT DAMAGE AT A MIRCOSCOPIC LEVEL TO MY EYES.

WELL OFF TO BED.

THANKS GUYS FOR LISTENING TO A MORON.

DAVID

[ALTI]

sorry to hear that. maybe i should stop staring at the sun all the time .

[Fredfish]

Major OOPS! Hope this dosn't affect your vision too much!

What you don't know can and will hurt you. I suspect we all get complacent over time because we assume we know what we are doing.

I was always carefull not to look directly at my MH when the hood was open, but never made any effort to completely shield myself from the bulbs or to turn them off. Fortunately for me, my light and reflector were mounted to a part of the hood that did not move and usually shielded me from direct light. Could have happened to me too.

Fred

[DitchPlains2]

yea this was not direct light.


it was indirect... your retina can recieve light from any direction.


I was about 2 feet to 1 foot from my hood while working, and never looking at my lights.

My vision is blurry, and may stay this was indefinately or temporarily.

no way to be sure.

only time will tell.

This is very depressing and distrubing to me having had 20/20 vision and now its difficult to see when typing.

David

[Fredfish]

My vision is blurry, and may stay this was indefinately or temporarily.

Thats a high price to pay for one instance of inattention. My best friends father lost a finger that way changing a tractor tire. Could have been a lot worse. For 40 years he was very very carefull around his equipment. 30 seconds, not enough sleep and whamo, finger gone.

I feel for you.

Fred.

P.S. Let us know how you make out.

[DitchPlains2]

Thanks man, I have heard my conditon is currently either

Solar Retinopathy or Ultraviolet keratitis.

or I may have both.

The first is overexposer to harmful uv light that has in some way damaged your retina. Either mildy or severly.

The later is a flash burn by light, heat or both that dried up and ruins the cornea temporarily.


My symptoms are like this.

I have blurred vision in my right eye, unable to make out great detail,
ie: letters numbers, etc.... unless close up.

I alos have that sand in the eye feeling from the heat burn.

The Optomoligst said she didnt see any retina damage but she wasnt able to tell me for certain as its micoscopic, and if I did I wouldnt have been able to read down to 20/25 on the chart. However I had read the chart before from the PA doing the same exam on me, so I may have accidentally recieted it, not truly reading it fresh.

Only time will tell at this point, its a waiting game to see what my outcome is.

yes a true heavy price to pay. I made need laser surgery or contacts, etc... which I did not need before.

I am living moron example.

take care thanks for support guys

David

[aaron23]

WOw dam... best of luck wish everything goes smooth and well. sorry to hear that.

[DitchPlains2]

yea tommorow I am going back to the optomologist to make sure all is doing better or well as can be.

I hope I dont need cornea replacement surgery or anything like that, little frieghtened and worried about my health.

I will off to be asap.

hoping to hear from Anthony, see if he has any opinions on my predicament.

you there Antnee?

night guys

David

[graveyardworm]

Sorry to hear what happened, I've worked in my tank with MH on and thought man those are bright but kept working anyway. So far luckily no probs, but I'll be turning them off from now on. I do have a question. DE MH have no UV protection correct so they require a UV shield? Was this shield in place when you were working in your tank? Part of the reason I ask is because my MH are SE. Maybe thats the difference I dont know. I really hope your eyesight returns. Good luck

[Samala]

Wow.. truly a heads-up post. I have had flash burns on the eyes (lasers.. heh..) and they are not fun but they are recoverable. The first possible diagnosis of overexposure to UV and damage through this method just seems like the natural aging of the eye has been sped up severely. Doing years (decades?) of natural sunlight incidental damage in just a few hours.

It was a wise aquarist who told me the dangers of MH.. she said, "Treat them as you would the bulbs in a tanning bed, they're nearly as dangerous to your eyes even if you cant really get a good sunburn."

I really feel for you too.. please let us know how things turn out. It is a heavy price to pay for something so simple but at least we live in a country where good healthcare is available (if expensive...) and there are many things that can be done to alleviate long term problems from this accident.

All the best -
>Sarah

[DitchPlains2]

I tried to go to a follow up visit at the Eyecare center I was recomended to go to, unfortunately they didnt take appointments so I was there and quite annoyed as they wanted me to wiat 2hrs.

Thank God we live in the country we do live in, and I was able to go to a regular opthamologist tommorow at 1:45pm to get a true checkup, instead of an ER opthamologist review.


The doctor in the ER said it was a heat or flash burn with no noticeable retina damage, however I still have blurred vision in my right eye, and my skin is peeling so forget that concept you cant get a sunburn from them, you sure can. I am italian with olive skin and never burn even at good at the beach here on Long Island.

I have been dosing myself with tons of water, antioxident mixes, vitamins, carrots healthy food and tons of eye rest, hoping this will reverse itself, but no gurantees.

Hopefully tommorow I can get a better idea where I stand, if I need laser, or cornea replacement surgery.

Super high price to pay!

The words on my computer monitor are blurry and out of focus, so forgive my typing.

Anyways, I am off to rest my eyes again.

thanks guys for the support.

oh yeah

graveyardworm

I do have a question. DE MH have no UV protection correct so they require a UV shield? Was this shield in place when you were working in your tank?

yes no shields over them just straight UvB and UVa right into my eyes, nice huh? I am wondering What the F&(%&$ I was thinking now.

later
David

[MyMonkey]

Sorry to hear that. Wonder if those bulbs came with a warning?

[DitchPlains2]

2 Opthalmaologist's later and here is the final prognosis.

I have a small outer epithealia burn, which is not and THANK GOD permanent, it will heal and is healing.

NO CORNEA or RETINA damage. again THANK GOD!

I am on the road to recovery.


Here is the lesson learned.


Going out today and buying DE fixtures with UV shields, and not the cheap home fixture I built which is dangerous and unreliable at best.


I learned my lesson, and thankfully without true damage.

My opthalamologist did tell me I have a stigmatism in my right eye which has probably been there since birth, and I am just now noticing my problem, said come back in two years for glasses.


thanks for the love n support guys and gals. reminds me why I come here, this is a great community with great people who truly are in this hobby for the right reasons.

take care
David

[Fredfish]

Glad to hear things are gonna be OK.

Fred

[Anthony Calfo]

ughhh... terribly sorry to hear of yoru woes, my friend. I was away travelling and could not reply.

Very good to see the promising prognosis though.

A very special thanks to you too for sharing the experience via a post to help other reefers at the same time.

Best of luck/life to all,

Anth-

[DitchPlains2]

Thanks again man for the warm words of support, no one could be more happily suprised and elated by the news than me! I am very thankful to have learned a lesson like this, without dire consequences indeed! It still suprises me how dumb I could have been Friday night to have left all 450watts of DE Mh lighting 2 feet from my face and to have walked away basically unharmed. I think there was someone watching out for me, hey what's that old saying? "God watches out for drunks, stupid people and children," lol...

Well I am in the process of finding a good reflector for most of my lighting or if not rebuilding one with a good UV shield. Word to the wise, definately invest in UV glass for DE lighting.

take care guys,
thanks again for the love n support!
David

[Samala]

I'm very glad to hear the worst you've come away with is being told you have flat spots on yer eyes.. My own flash burns, about what you ended up with I gather, took two weeks before they were healed to the point that I didnt notice fuzzy spots and such. Keep up the healthy stuff, cant hurt. Maybe a little Selco on your food... ?

Again, glad to hear you turned out alright and thanks for the post. A good warning for all of us.
>Sarah

[DitchPlains2]

Hey thanks Sarah!



Your words were very helpful and supportive. Yea basically, I disocvered what I already knew I had a stigmatism in both my eyes, worse in the right, and that my epitheala layer of my cornea will heal.

If your concerned about Uv (free radicals) I got this stuff from my gf, its called OXYNECTAR(VitaminShop) it has tons of antioxidants, ie: Bilberry extract, all of these things fight the free radicals that get into your body from UV rays, and from charbroiled foods. (another topic) I am lubricating my eyes everyday, and eating well getting rest, took whole week off from work. Luckily I can do this, no family, just me and my gf so we are able to get by for awhile without working.

thanks again for the support

David

Maybe a little Selco on your food... ?

LMAO I thought about it for sure.

[techreef]

Holy smokes. David, it's late now, but I hope you're fully recovered and have joined the rest of us in our various attempts to electrocute, infect, and generally damage ourselves in our tanks. This thread is really important. I briefly thought about this topic while I was staring into my 6-bulb T5 setup while I was installing it in my canopy.

Could this be made a sticky? Or better yet, how about RC creating a safety thread/forum. At least for serious health risks like this, electrocution, and encephophalactic (sp?) shock?

Once again, David, I hope you're okay. Thanks for the warning.

[Travis L. Stevens]

Originally posted by techreef
Holy smokes. David, it's late now, but I hope you're fully recovered and have joined the rest of us in our various attempts to electrocute, infect, and generally damage ourselves in our tanks. This thread is really important. I briefly thought about this topic while I was staring into my 6-bulb T5 setup while I was installing it in my canopy.

Could this be made a sticky? Or better yet, how about RC creating a safety thread/forum. At least for serious health risks like this, electrocution, and encephophalactic (sp?) shock?

Once again, David, I hope you're okay. Thanks for the warning.

You mean Anaphylactic Shock?

[dreaminmel]

Hope all is well w/ your eyes now DitchPlains2 and I also wholeheartedly agree w/ techreef we should have something on this site dedicated to safety. With so many newcomers who haven't read some of these threads and so many "oldies" that get that safe feeling there is some serious potential for bad accidents. We have a ton of electricity in close proximity to water, UV exposure, inhabitants capable of bodily harm, etc. How about it mods?

Think I'm going to go research a grounding probe as that's something I haven't thought about yet w/ my upcoming upgrade...

[silversnake]

Hey dreamin, when you research grounding probes find out if the water in your tank is grounded if you put the probe in your sump. Sorry to hear about your eyes. I always wear my contacts and sunglasses when working with lights on but i think from now on its lights off.

[graveyardworm]

I tried to start a safety thread in the newbie forum with links to threads like this one, it never got stickied and turned into a discussion thread. I guess it just wasnt worthy.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...of+reefkeeping

[Travis L. Stevens]

I remember that, David. I've been trying to work on a presentation about the hazards of the hobby for some time now. Between my tanks, other people's tanks, and article writing, I've barely had the time for this presentation, let alone my family. Thank goodness my family enjoys to work with me on tanks.

[Blown 346]

Sorry to hear that, its a good thing that your eyes are one of the 2 organs that can heal themselves. Good luck.