Man I hate welder's flashburn

[Danny_S]

Here I am looking at the forum with sunglasses on, 2 tylenol 3's in me, sterile eye drops every 10 mins..... whew, this really sucks... 2nd time in 2 weeks. And it's only from getting flashes from the side, hard not to when you walk down through a shop with 20 welders workin away...

Any good remidies other than the tea bags I have heard about 100 times...?? I know someone else here has suffered this....

[Fla._Deadheader]

My Dad had to use chunks of raw white potatoes on each eye. I had a slight case once and the shades made it bearable. Wear wraparound shades at work, if possible.

[Danny_S]

I am looking into getting perscription tinted safety glasses. I have welded with stick for years and got lots of flashes but never had burn.... a month at the new job and I get it twice  :-/

[etat]

Coming on late but as Fla said potato slices are the best.  Cut em in thin slices, and replace the slices often as they'll heat up as they pull the heat out of your eyes.  In the process they'll cool your eyes.

I had me a job in a steel plant one time and there was a snot nose smart aleck  little foreman come off of the night shift that liked to look over my shoulder.  (I was a snot nosed kid myself at the time).  Just as I'd start to pull my hood down to weld of course he'd look away.  I told the fitter I was working with I was fixing to break him.  He'd nudge me everytime the guy would get close and I'd close my eyes, strike the arc and start welding before shaking  my head and dropping  the hood.  Took exactly ONE day to make him wanna stay AWAY from me!!!!!

Danny, learn to close one eye quick, even before you have time to turn your head when you see an arc flash from the side.  It'll soon become second nature.

[rebocardo]

Put side shields on your glasses and paint them an opaque color for in the shop use with a pair of tinted glasses.

[HARD_WATER]

man i hear ya i got welders burn had it when i was in high school
and now it comes back every now and agin nothing is worse than welders burn..H.W

[Ron Scott]

Very uncomfortable!! I had it once while working in an iron mine as a welder's helper. Get and use the proper eye protection whenever being around a welder, even for a "little" while.

[Haytrader]

Only thing I would add is grate the potatoes.

[SwampDonkey]

My brother got it once, when he got the idea you didn't need tinted shades or a welders helmut while welding. errm  :

[D._Frederick]

Danny,

Being around arc welders can be hard on the eyes, are you using the electonic controlled shields that automatic darken? The shop you are working in must be welding thick material requiring large amperage to produce an arc strong enough to burn your eyes just walking by. Don't they have portable shield to set-up to protect people?

[slowzuki]

Thats what I asked last night!  Danny said they don't use em always cause its a hassle.  I suspect it is heavy stuff as it is for loader buckets etc.  Danny said he uses the overhead gantry cranes to position stuff for welding.

Ken

Danny,

 Don't they have portable shield to set-up to protect people?

[Danny_S]

That's right, the bays have barriers between them but not toward the middle of the shop, there are bays down each side and you have to walk down the middle to go get parts ect.. that's where you get flashes from the side ect....  I am going to invest in a auto helmet as well though, used one today for a while and they are nice.. expecially when your tacking together parts..

[D._Frederick]

Danny,

What does your shop have for ventilation to carry off welding fumes? One of are neighbors welded for a living and got poisoned from the metal vapors created from the arc. It caused problems with his heart, he ended up finding a new way to make a living.

[Danny_S]

We have 12 "Dust Hogs" hanging from the ceiling and about 10 of the 20 mig guns have the smoke vaccuum on them.. there are 2 big doors that stay open most of the time as well. It is really pretty good as far as fumes go,.. almost never get a bad smell of  welding smoke.

Really all that can be done to prevent flash has been done, I think I just have a sensitivity to it...  now, I was welding all day today and flashed myself a couple of times, and got a few side flashes from others, but have no burn tonight.... maybe I am growing ammune to it!

[Gilman]

Danny,
This may seem odd, but I worked with this idiot that was welding a go-cart at his grandpa's.  He couldn't find a welding hood (but some how found the welder) so he just "squinted real tight."  Well, the next day he was blind and scratched his eyes till they were sore.  His grandfather found out what his "favorite" grandson had done and perscribed the "oldest can of condensed milk washed overs his eyes."  Apparently this worked.  My feeling is that milk is full of enzymes and vitamin D.  The enzymes flush out the dead crap and the vitamin D invigorates healing growth.

I've welded for years and thought all of you that got, "flash burn" were seeing things until I finally got it.  Nope, not from welding... My chop saw finally bit the dust and the brushes were beyond fried.  It would still run but had no power and emmitted a bright blue flame.  I couldn't figure out what was going on and kept looking into the brush area of the motor. Finally decided I needed to take the motor in for repair.  About 1-2 hours later my eyes started burning.  Another hour and I could barely see. $50,000.00 of college education later it dawns on me I was flash-burned.  I was desperate and tried the condensed milk trick. I'd have to admit it was soothing and stopped the insatiable itch. I applied the milk to a cloth liberally and rested the cloth on my eyes.  The next day I was fine.  

Next time I'll try some hashbrowns if the cloth soaked milk duds don't work :D

On the other hand, Vitamin D promotes healing of cells.  Vitamin D is found in both potatos and milk.  You could probably take a vitam D tablet, grind it and sprinkle it over your eyelids while resting sweet, sweet, sweet cool cubes of ice on your eyes.

You might want to try wearing these new "welder's block" safety glasses.  I think they are just intense UV blockers.  I'm pretty sure I saw the add in a MSC catalog.  I was using an "auto darkening" hood while tig welding and kept shading the pick-up sensors.  Well, before I had a full sack of Idaho's on my face, I started wearing some clear UV blocker safety glasses and it helped greatly.  Be warned I was only TIG welding at less than 100 amps.  But you might want to try to find some UV blocking glasses that are semiclear for cruising through your shop.

[Scott]

 Danny, I see your with Craig Mfg. Do you know a guy by the name of Charie Denton? I guess he sells paint to your shop. I used to work in the welding shop next to his office/warehouse here in Saint John.
  When I  got a flash I went to the hospital. the doctor put special drops in that cool and freeze the muscles in your eyes, it really helped.

[Furby]

My not so smart kid brother has been working on the exaust system on his car. A few quick fixes failed, so he "thought" he'd be smart and weld the thing. He's never welded before, but knew to use the face mask (but not the reason why). He claims he couldn't see what he was doing, so he took the mask off and did his welding job!  

A little while later my mom asked him if he was ok, because his eyes were all red.  : He told her everything was fine. He went out to a bonfire and by the time he got home, he was in real pain. My mom took him in to the hospital because she thought it was an allergy or something. 4 hours later they found it was flashburn, I could have told them that!  :

No driving for atleast a week, no tv, puter, or school for atleast several days. I don't think he has plans to do any welding any time soon. :
Hard way to learn a lesson, all he had to do was ask.

[Ron Scott]

Yes, a bad introduction to welding and painful.

[DanG]

Danny, the immunity you may seem to be building up may not be a good sign.
In the military, they taught us to use our peripheral vision to see things better at night. The theory is that the cells on the sides of the retina are not scorched by the sun as badly as the ones we use for direct vision. If you look into the darkness, but mentally concentrate on things not directly where you are focussing, you can see things you would have missed. If these side flashes are bothering you less, it may mean that you have damaged these peripheral cells. Get yourself some protection before you go into that shop again!

[Fla._Deadheader]

  Good point, Dan. Forgot all about them perifuril vision thingys ;D :D