I have always been a firm believer in the use of safety glasses around the shop. I wear them most of the time even when I am not grinding or cutting. Even a simple under vehicle inspection requires me to wear them because eye injuries are nothing to mess with. I was doing a brake job on a F-150 and the rotors were really hard coming off. I got a phone call, so stopped what I was doing and took the call. When I returned, I forgot to put the glasses back on and started swinging the hammer. Well, a small piece of the rotor flew off and struck me in the left eye.

I hurried to the restroom to look and could see the piece protruding from my eye!

The other mechanic there seen what happened and stopped me from pulling it out. He said that pulling a foreign object from my eye can tear the tissue and I had to cover it up and hold my head back while I was taken to the hospital. It was more annoying and frustrating than it was painful, but regardless, the whole ordeal sucked. The doctor at the hospital added a few drops to numb the eye and then I had to sit in this contraption that holds my head still. He examined it and found several pieces in there.

The procedure he performed next was weird. He had an assistant hold my eye lid open as he used a small instrument to push on the side of my eye so it actually bulges out. He then used a small drill with a tiny bit on the end to shatter the metal pieces. A swab with some goopy crap on it was then used to extract the pieces. After about 3 drillings and swabbings, the eye was free from any metal. He then added some more drops and some other crap in there and patched it up.

I did not feel the drill, but when your eye is open and your brain is trying to comprehend what is going on, it becomes a scary situation. I cannot work now for a day and have to wear this patch........



The wife picked up a regular eye patch for me to wear because it is very sensitive to light. So I guess I am going to be a pirate for a couple days. It's also hard to use the computer, so I may be offline a few days.

 

Oh man, thats brutal. Get well soon. Eye injurys suck. Got cuastic in my eye once, they had to basiclly "peel" my eyeball to make sure they got it all, was off work for weeks sitting in a dark house. Only way I was comfortable.

 

I was putting hitch on my first Volvo and involved drilling a hole in the frame. I got just a small piece of the shavings stuck in my eye and it drove me crazy. I did this on a Saturday and did not have it removed until Monday morning.

I think your friend gave you real good advice on not pulling it out. Could have done some major damage. See we learn all kinds of stuff on this sight.

 

Hate to hear it. At least there isn't any permanent damage. Good luck and get well soon.

 

good luck.....

hope it heals.

 

Have fun looking like a pirate! Seriously though, hope it heals very quickly!

 

I had something like that happen as well but it was a sliver off of a stud when putting an exhaust back on. I waiting overnight to go to the Hopsital. By the morning there was a rust ring around the metal the size of a pencil eraser. It took 3 days of scraping the eyeball to get it all out.

It really sucked.