Another plea for safety; 405nm @ ~500mA to the eye

[scumbagatheist]

Yup, I was dumb. I was checking out fluorescence in various colored liquids in bottles and I was not wearing my safety goggles. I hesitated to even make this thread for fear of my rep being destroyed, but with so many new people always coming to the forum, I believe it's important to remind everyone, AGAIN, to ALWAYS wear your eye protection when uncertain of reflections, beam path, etc.

I was standing over some clear plastic bottles and noticed how this orange liquid cancelled out the beam, when BAM!, a reflection, from less than a meter away, directly hit me in the iris.

No need to tell me to rush to the ER. No need to tell me to get to a retina specialist. I know all the advice. I've read all the articles and have personal experience with welding burns to the eyes. I also know that the two are not the same.

I have no health insurance. So, unless I experience some serious side effects that I haven't experienced before, I doubt I will be seeing a specialist. That being said, should I have problems, I will be getting my dumb ass to a doctor!

I am not endorsing ignoring one's own healthcare; Far from it. If you can afford medical care, GET IT!

I have anti-inflammatory medicines. I am not experiencing any pressure or swelling...yet, nor do I have any discoloration of vision. If I do, I won't mess around.

Please don't flame me. I knew the risks and I was stupid. I made this post to be an example of how easy it is to suffer a powerful beam strike, no matter your confidence. Hopefully, I won't pay too badly for it.

 

[scumbagatheist]

Well, I made it okay through the night with no pain or inflammation. Before I went to bed, I used an old welder's trick of applying a potato poultice to the eye for a couple of hours.
According to the welders I learned this from (and confounding to doctors) the potato, "takes the burn out." I don't know what this means, but when one suffers welding burns to the eyes, the potato does indeed turn black as it does it's job. There was no blackening in my case.

None of this is legitimate medical care, and I implore all to do what they feel they should, if they take a beam in the eye. But mostly, I implore all to ALWAYS use your safety glasses and don't much about!

 

[danefex]

It doesn't sound like you suffered from anything too serious & were extremely lucky not to have permanently damaged your eyesight, that is rare when something like this happens. I'm glad to read that you're ok, hopefully you'll take eye safety much more seriously from now on.

:beer:

 

[scumbagatheist]

Thanks Danefex. It was a stupid mistake, and I hope others learn from it.

In hindsight though, it's inspired me to design a SAFE liquid diffraction setup that I will share with the forum. We all want to see how these near UV 405nm lasers affect fluorescence.

I do hope that should someone suffer a hit like I did that they seek the best medical attention they can. And no, what I spend on lasers wouldn't buy medical insurance! lol

 

[Livinloud]

In hindsight though, it's inspired me to design a SAFE liquid diffraction setup that I will share with the forum. We all want to see how these near UV 405nm lasers affect fluorescence

Glad to hear you are okay but +1 for taking this challenge on, GL