trippsy25
Well-Known Member
After growing and using some pretty intense chemicals for over 15 years I became very complacent. To be honest, I never really took chemical safety to seriously, never giving it much or any thought and I certainly never wore PPE.
Well, that all came back to bite me a couple of days ago.
It was 11pm and I was tending to my hydroponic setup as I do every night. I was using PH UP (potassium hydroxide 48%) when the bottle fell (I was using it in a precarious position) and when it landed it shot a large stream of the solution up and accross my face and in my eye.
Immediate buring sesation in my eye, lips and tongue. I got to a tap within seconds and basically waterboarded myself for 15 minutes, focusing on irrigating my eye, and lips and tonge. It was really painful but the full on buring had started to subside so I thought it might be okay. I quickly googled it and it said alkali is worse that acid in the eyes and that immediate medical attention should be sought. I then rang Nurse-on-Call fir advice and was advised to go to hospital emergency room immediately. So I went.
They admitted and treated me almost immediately. 7 hours straight irrigating my eye with a morgan lense (basically a suction cup over you eyeball that feeds saline solution...which wad bloody uncomfortable and painful on my damaged eye to say the very least) with intermittent ph testing of both my eyes with litmus paper. Once ph was mostly normalised (they got it down to 8. It should be around 7 and mine was 10 when I was admitted) they then sent me to the Eye & Ear Hospital emergency room for specialist care.
They irrigated my eye some more and then ran a bunch of tests. Thankfully no permanent damage. Just a lot of trauma that will heal. It basically stripped a layer off the inside of my eyelids and eye and caused a 4mm by 8mm gouge on my eyeball. My lips and tongue were still swollen and tingly but not too bad. And I had a bunch of "cuts" on my cheek, forehead, and around my eye where it kind of melted through the skin.
So after teating and assessing me they sent me home with antibiotic and lubricating eyedrops to begin recovery. I'd been awake for 31 hours at that point.
I got home and got to sleep pretty quick since I was so tired out but only manged to get 3 hours sleep before waking with a crusty, gloopy, mucus filled eye. The next 24 hours were bloody hard. Any movement of the eye caused pain. Open eye caused pain. Closed eye caused pain. There was no relief. I tried to sleep more but could get more than 2-3 hours before waking with the same funky eye.
Now I'm past that first 24 hours it has calmed down a bit. My eye is still really painful and swollen and red but it feels maybe 30% better today which is a godsend...trust me. Still lots of mucus. Thankfully the eye is just about if not the fastest healing body part so within another 24 to 48 hours it should be bearable. My lips are almost feeling nomal dispite the pain of peeling and cracked skin. Its pretty gross. My tongue is fairing better...no peeling or anything, it just feels a bit weird now and food doesn't taste very strong.
So in a few days I should be alright and mostly back to normal, but fuck me, what a hell of an ordeal. An ordeal that could have been so easily avoided had I been wearing PPE (a face shield or goggles), or had I been using it in a more controlled manner...no precarious handling.
So lesson learned. I will now treat these chemicals with the respect that they deserve. I will be reading MSDS's. I will be wearing a face shield and gloves and long sleeves.
And you should too. Or at least be cognizant of the risks and hazards and how to treat it if it does go wrong. Don't become complacent or flippant like I did.
I suspect most of you wont take any action. I know I probably wouldn't have if I'd read this. "What are the odds of that happening to me", right. But if I can get through to one single person then I will deem this a success because a freak event can happen to anyone and trust me...you dont want to go through this. And I got "lucky"...it could have been worse.
Anyways happy growing. Stay safe and take care of yourself.
Well, that all came back to bite me a couple of days ago.
It was 11pm and I was tending to my hydroponic setup as I do every night. I was using PH UP (potassium hydroxide 48%) when the bottle fell (I was using it in a precarious position) and when it landed it shot a large stream of the solution up and accross my face and in my eye.
Immediate buring sesation in my eye, lips and tongue. I got to a tap within seconds and basically waterboarded myself for 15 minutes, focusing on irrigating my eye, and lips and tonge. It was really painful but the full on buring had started to subside so I thought it might be okay. I quickly googled it and it said alkali is worse that acid in the eyes and that immediate medical attention should be sought. I then rang Nurse-on-Call fir advice and was advised to go to hospital emergency room immediately. So I went.
They admitted and treated me almost immediately. 7 hours straight irrigating my eye with a morgan lense (basically a suction cup over you eyeball that feeds saline solution...which wad bloody uncomfortable and painful on my damaged eye to say the very least) with intermittent ph testing of both my eyes with litmus paper. Once ph was mostly normalised (they got it down to 8. It should be around 7 and mine was 10 when I was admitted) they then sent me to the Eye & Ear Hospital emergency room for specialist care.
They irrigated my eye some more and then ran a bunch of tests. Thankfully no permanent damage. Just a lot of trauma that will heal. It basically stripped a layer off the inside of my eyelids and eye and caused a 4mm by 8mm gouge on my eyeball. My lips and tongue were still swollen and tingly but not too bad. And I had a bunch of "cuts" on my cheek, forehead, and around my eye where it kind of melted through the skin.
So after teating and assessing me they sent me home with antibiotic and lubricating eyedrops to begin recovery. I'd been awake for 31 hours at that point.
I got home and got to sleep pretty quick since I was so tired out but only manged to get 3 hours sleep before waking with a crusty, gloopy, mucus filled eye. The next 24 hours were bloody hard. Any movement of the eye caused pain. Open eye caused pain. Closed eye caused pain. There was no relief. I tried to sleep more but could get more than 2-3 hours before waking with the same funky eye.
Now I'm past that first 24 hours it has calmed down a bit. My eye is still really painful and swollen and red but it feels maybe 30% better today which is a godsend...trust me. Still lots of mucus. Thankfully the eye is just about if not the fastest healing body part so within another 24 to 48 hours it should be bearable. My lips are almost feeling nomal dispite the pain of peeling and cracked skin. Its pretty gross. My tongue is fairing better...no peeling or anything, it just feels a bit weird now and food doesn't taste very strong.
So in a few days I should be alright and mostly back to normal, but fuck me, what a hell of an ordeal. An ordeal that could have been so easily avoided had I been wearing PPE (a face shield or goggles), or had I been using it in a more controlled manner...no precarious handling.
So lesson learned. I will now treat these chemicals with the respect that they deserve. I will be reading MSDS's. I will be wearing a face shield and gloves and long sleeves.
And you should too. Or at least be cognizant of the risks and hazards and how to treat it if it does go wrong. Don't become complacent or flippant like I did.
I suspect most of you wont take any action. I know I probably wouldn't have if I'd read this. "What are the odds of that happening to me", right. But if I can get through to one single person then I will deem this a success because a freak event can happen to anyone and trust me...you dont want to go through this. And I got "lucky"...it could have been worse.
Anyways happy growing. Stay safe and take care of yourself.
