Eye aches after welding

[joelk]

On Monday, I did a relatively small amount of MIG Welding. About a half hour of welding sheetmetal.

I used an Auto Darkening Helmet and it seemed to be working properly. I had no real issues while welding, but noticed that night that my eyes seemed a little dry/tired. Same thing the next day. On Wednesday, my right eye(and only my right eye) got red and sore and sensitive to sunlight, and watered quite a bit. My right nostril also got stuffy/runny (left nostril basically unaffected) Today(Thursday) it is not as bad, but is still light sensitive and watering some. Except for the watery eye my vision is normal in both eyes.

I don't think I got any material in my eye so I ASSUME it is from the light from the welding, but I don't understand why only one eye seems to be affected.

Has anyone experienced this?

How long did "it" last?

Did you use drops etc? If so, what?

Did you get any medical treatment?

Any permanent eye damage?

Any thoughts/suggestions on why this happened, or how to prevent it from happening again?

Do the Auto Darkening Helmets wear out?

Thanks, Joel

[Harry Phinney]

Any reasonably recent helmet will filter nearly all (i.e. 99+%) of the UV rays even in it's "light" state. The clear safety/scratch shields outside (and typically inside) of the lense are made from a polycarbonate plastic which is essentially opaque to UV. A slow changing auto-lense might cause eye strain and headache from the eyes reacting to the bright visible light, but will not cause old-school eye burns. What sort of sheet metal were you welding? It didn't happen to be galvanized was it?

Harry Phinney

[Len]

On Monday, I did a relatively small amount of MIG Welding. About a half hour of welding sheetmetal.

I used an Auto Darkening Helmet and it seemed to be working properly. I had no real issues while welding, but noticed that night that my eyes seemed a little dry/tired. Same thing the next day. On Wednesday, my right eye(and only my right eye) got red and sore and sensitive to sunlight, and watered quite a bit. My right nostril also got stuffy/runny (left nostril basically unaffected) Today(Thursday) it is not as bad, but is still light sensitive and watering some. Except for the watery eye my vision is normal in both eyes.

I don't think I got any material in my eye so I ASSUME it is from the light from the welding, but I don't understand why only one eye seems to be affected.

Has anyone experienced this?

How long did "it" last?

Did you use drops etc? If so, what?

Did you get any medical treatment?

Any permanent eye damage?

Any thoughts/suggestions on why this happened, or how to prevent it from happening again?

Do the Auto Darkening Helmets wear out?

Thanks, Joel

I've gotten UV burn a couple times and it feels just like sand in your eyes. Your problem almost sounds like you inhaled some of the fumes coming off the weld.

When I got "welder's flash" I experienced sand in my eyes as well as a burn on my skin. It lasted about 24 hours.

When I got my eyes burned badly working in front of a shop UV lamp the sand was much worse and I thought I blinded myself. I recovered fully but here I am about 30 years later and I've just been told I have cataracts. Did the lamp cause it? Maybe, so be careful to protect your eyes AND your breath while welding.

[kevininohio]

Not normal with an autodarkening helmet but some of the cheapies I would not recommend. As my friend used to say, what are your eyes worth?. I've welded an 8 hour day and never had a problem with Jacksons.

Corneal abrasions is the medical term and like Len said feels like sand in your eyes. They water and snot up and get extremely red. What it is a a sun burn on the back of your eye. I got it once and pretty painful. I was working in the shop with another guy who was welding and didn't look at it direct, but all day on periferral view it still got me. Doc verified it as it was only on the far side on the back of my eyeballs. I learned to turn my back with what I was working on.

Your situation sounds more like fumes to me as it's just one eye and your nose being stuffy. If you can't get a downdraft to weld in at LEAST run a fan on low to get the fumes away from your face. A fan on high will mess up your weld if using gas and flux core does worse as well.

[turbocobra]

I have a cheap auto darkening helmet and I have noticed some very minor irritation, dryness, slight burning, etc after welding for an extended period of time. This is very minor and when I wake up the next day it is fine.

[MARTINSR]

I have a cheap auto darkening helmet and I have noticed some very minor irritation, dryness, slight burning, etc after welding for an extended period of time. This is very minor and when I wake up the next day it is fine.

I have to tell you, I have tried many auto darkening helmets, I just don't like them. I got one of these "Accustrike" helmets years ago and have never looked back. http://www.accustrike.com/

You operate it with your chin, no relying on some chinese junk electronics, YOU are in control.
http://www.accustrike.com/mvhelmet.gif

You pop it up and wham, you have a grinding helmet. When up your lens is perfectly clear unlike the #4 shade on the auto darkening helmet that needs a light on the subject to see what the heck you are doing.

They are under a hundred bucks on their web site, I HIGHLY recommend them. I would NEVER use anything that left me feeling like you did after that welding. And I too would be concerned with the fumes you were breathing. ALL late model cars are galvanized, every single panel is galvanized. So just because it doesn't look like a chain link fence glavanizing doesn't mean it isn't coated with ZINC. 3M makes a disposable welding respirator for about $20 DO NOT weld again without one!

I am so thankful that I have been pretty good about protecting myself over the decades I have been doing this stuff. You may be a young stud now, but in a few years you will be an old man and you want to be here to see your grandkids.

Brian

[joelk]

The metal was not galvanized, 68 Pontiac Door Skin, but I did have some Weld Through Zinc Primer on some "fender washers" that I was installing as "reinforcements" for a mirror mounting area. I assume this may have caused some abnormal fumes.

As far as "not using anything that let me feel like you did after welding", I certainly would like to avoid this also, but I don't know if it the "fault" of the welding helmet.

It is "cheap" and old helmet that I got about 10-15 years ago when they were not as common as they are today. I have not welded a lot recently, but have welded many times with it since I purchased it, and never had any issues like this in the past.

I'm not even CERTAIN it is from the welding as it was pretty much a full day before I noticed any significant symptoms, but I don't know anything else to suspect as the source of the problem.

[Bob K]

Consider that it may not be related to the welding at all. Your tear drainage system may be plugged. Do a Google search on “watery eyes”.

Bob K

[John Kelly]

You may be getting an arc reflection of a white wall next to you, or your shirt? Try wearing googles as well as a hood, and maybe a darker lense in the hood. I have never like auto darkening hoods much. It is pretty easy to learn to tip your hood down with your head.

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

[PSB]

I've accidentally flashed myself a couple of times, forgetting to flip the lens down when I first started learning to weld. I got the gritty eye feeling for just a few minutes.

I started wearing clear plastic, wrap around safety glasses that are rated to block 99% UV under my helmet. Now, if I accidentally strike an arc with the hood up my eyes are still somewhat protected, and plus I can grind if I need to. The Clear safety glasses can also help with the reflected UV from behind that John mentioned.

I need to look into the Accustrike, my neck sometimes gets tired from all the flipping down.

Make sure any metal you weld on is clean and have adequate ventilation. Paint and oil can vaporize or burn and affect your sinuses. Zinc galvanizing fumes can give you flu like symptoms, but usually do not do permanent damage. Cadmium plating fumes can kill, I've never heard of cad plating on car bodies, but some fasteners used to be cad plated. Wear a respirator if you are working with zinc galvanized or weld thru primer.

[MARTINSR]

That weld thru primer IS zinc, 95% zinc!

Brian

[showcar]

When I got my welder the guy warned me about cheap helmets. I got a nitro auto darkening. It irritated a little til I had the sensitivity set right. I'm happy with it and it leaves enough room for a mask. It was $125 and one of the cheaper "adequete" ones I'm told.

[Choppers_rule]

I was gonna buy a cheapo auto darkening helmet from Harbor freight but changed my mind and bought a Miller and I'm really happy with it. I heard the cheap auto helmet has more delay when the welder starting to flash.

I weld much better with the auto darkening helmet since I'm not a pro welder.

[Jeffw5555]

You did not have a UV exposure issue; more than likely you have an allergic reaction to the zinc fumes or some other byproducts of the welding process.

When I was 14, I was welding on a bike frame. I only had a few welds to make, so I just got the rod in place, closed my eyes, and welded by feel. Little did I know that the UV goes thru eyelids easily. This was in the afternoon. I had no issues at all, until I woke up at about 3:00 with eyes "full of sand" as Len and the others have said. Trip to the ER was not fun.

UV exposure symptoms don't show up shortly after welding; it take 8-12 hours for the symptoms to show up. Your condition sounds nothing like UV exposure.

[tbm3fan]

As others have said you do not have welders flash. If on snow many call it snow blindness. The cornea naturally absorbs UV light and can be sunburned so to speak. The sensation is always a gritty and sandy feeling eye which will water. No medications are needed for the most part although artificial tears can help. The cornea has fast healing properties so you would be much improved between 24-48 hours.

Since I do not have you behind a Slit Lamp to see for myself your description does sound a lot like a corneal abrasion or scratch. The break in the surface will cause the corneal nerves to react to the light. Your blinking will irritate the area scratched and so you will water. Naturally your eye will get red. As with a UV burn the cornea can heal, even from a bad scratch, in under 72 hours. Most of the time an antibiotic is not needed unless the scratch was caused by an object that could have been contaminated. Then you would need one for prophylaxtic treatment. If it doesn't resolve then there is also the possibility of a foreign body in the cornea. That would have to be removed.

Again I am only making an guess here since the only way to know is to look at the surface under magnification.

[joelk]

Thanks for all of the replies.

My eye seems to be much better but not quite 100% normal yet.

Reading through the replies, I suspect my injury may be from more than one cause.

May be partially from fumes and partially from indirect exposure to the light.

When I was welding, I had white paper covering the windows etc. to protect them from welding splatter and I had a white wall close behind me and a white ceiling above me. Probably a lot of reflected light went behind the helmet and then reflected from the helmet lens to my eyes.

[MARTINSR]

That is a very interesting point about the light reflecting back into your helmet, VERy interesting I have never even thought of that!

Brian

[tbm3fan]

That is a very interesting point about the light reflecting back into your helmet, VERy interesting I have never even thought of that!

Brian

This is very dependent on certain factors. A white wall will reflect light but in what direction. If the wall is textured and not glossy then the light reflected will be diffused and soft. Commonly used in photography. If the wall was smooth and glossy then the light reflected would have to follow the laws of incidence and reflection. Hits the wall at 30 degrees then reflects at 30 degrees so how much would be able to head back in your particular direction? Now the wall is solid while lenses are colored glass which pass light. Light traveling in air of an index of 1.00 that then hits glass of an index of 1.50 will lose 4.0% in reflection. That is actually a very small percentage off the back of his lenses. If you wear glasses then you lose 4.0% off the front on your glasses every day without realizing it. I would imagine it might matter if you are welding for hours and hours on end.