Home Distiller

A cautionary tale of woe and regret.

If you should happen to apply flux to the inside of a coupling while peering over your glasses for a better look and the applicator 'springs' off the rim and delivers a brush full of copper etching acid directly into your eyeballs: DO NOT WORRY

The intense, searing, and blinding pain will begin to subside in about 10-15 minutes with your head under the faucet. It will degrade into a sensation not unlike being snapped hard in the eyeball with a rubber band. Lid open.

The ER will triage you to the front of the line, put your face in the eye wash with water so painfully cold you may wonder if blindness is preferable. The numbing drops will provide major relief but only temporarily. They will fluoresce the eyes for damage, likely say you have corneal abrasion but not any ulceration, although the official diagnosis is chemical conjunctivitis and the eyes will heal without damage in 2-3 days.

Then you will go home like a whipped dog, uncharacteristically submissive to the directives of your spouse and climb into bed. Your last thoughts, before you fall into a disturbed and restless sleep, may be that perhaps you're not as smart as you thought you were after all. This is my story.

To all and your loved ones, have a very safe New Years Eve and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Cheers

and you have a pain free, spirit filled recovery...

The vapors are no joke either. You may think working directly in front of a window in the shed is a great idea. You may even put a fan in that window to suck out the fumes. And so you think you are being sufficiently safe.

But shortly afterwards you may have a tightness in your chest. You might even call it a pain. It might not pass immediately like you hope, in fact it may get worse. You might hear words like pleuritis, and you might also hear scary words like cancer, or embolism that leave you hoping to god it really is from inhaling the flux fumes.

Goggles (not just glasses), outside (not just good ventilation gloves, and old clothes. Really can't be too safe. And yes, I've used it since, just with a lot more respect.

Wishing you a speedy recovery, mine took a lot longer than I expected. I'm sure I've inhaled a lot of suspect things over the years, but that shit hurt!

That sucks, but spilling concentrated acid in your eyes is no joke. It isn't a bad idea to use protective eye wear, but I've been known to not do it. I guess that I've just gotten lucky. Whenever I use concentrated bases i.e. 20% w/w NaOH I always use protective gear as well as when using very concentrated acids i.e 98% H2SO4 as well.

There I go for the grace of God. I hope that you have a complete recovery, and it is a good example of what not to do for those that haven't had a lot of experience with strong acids or bases.

Thanks guys- appreciate the sympathy and also for adding to the safety message. The day after is painful, day 2 is discomfort. This is the end of day 3 and I feel healed with no loss of visual acuity, pretty much what ER staff assured. Older (I know) but wiser (I hope). Be safe.

Thanks for the heads up, Mr. Sippy. I am always peering out over my glasses until I catch myself. I consider myself forewarned.

I feel your pain Mr. Sippy. Back in August I to paid a visit to the ER when a tile chip flew into my eye while cutting tile on a wet saw. After rubbing my eye and washing it out several times I thought I had removed the chip. That night I woke up at 2am in extreme pain. Just so happens I was at my summer cabin with my son in the middle of nowhere. Drove 20 miles and could barely see but made it to the ER. Those numbing drops do wonders for about an hour and then it was back to the sensation of having something in my eye. Numerous lectures on why safety glasses need to be worn. 4 visit to the Ophthalmologists, and to this day I still have problems. Even took a picture of the cut to my cornea which the gladly gave me as a reminder. You can see the cut which is highlighted in the fluorescent green dye they use.