Anyone ever have welder's flash (corneal flash burns)? Should I not run?

If you were grinding, you may have a very small metallic foreign body in your cornea, even if you can't see it, or think you flushed it.

You need to go to an optometrist or ophthalmologist ASAP and have them look at your eye under the microscope and stain your cornea with dye to make sure you do not have a penetrating wound.

Do NOT go to your PCP, ER, urgent care, etc. These folks do not have the proper equipment to examine the eye. I can't count the number of times I have had to remove foreign bodies for patients who did not get proper care.

Your light sensitivity may also indicate you have inflammation inside your eye.

Go see an eye doctor ASAP.

Ugh, this is what I was afraid of. I'm scared to death of anything near my eyes--you have no idea how difficult it was doing eyes drops and all of my other attempts at flushing out my eye today.

What finally at least had me chalk it up to welder's flash was half way through the day when I was trying to flush it out again, I could actually see all of the water in my eye that I had splashed in moving around, and it burned. I know nothing on this subject less previous experience but I feel like it shouldn't hurt having water in my eye.

I also got home a couple hours ago and looked at my welding helmet I was using last night. My friend used it a few days before and adjusted the settings on the mask so I was getting a lot more exposure welding last night than what I typically have it set to.

Last note: I've been inside for a couple hours with typical lighting and my eye feels a lot better, I can tell it will still hurt the second I get UV light though.

I get the feeling you're leaning toward the "don't run" side

You care about your eyes? See an eye doctor ASAP.

I know everything on this subject. See an eye doctor ASAP. If it's from welding, you'll get a cycloplegic drop and an antibiotic ointment. If it's a foreign body, they'll remove the FB, and give you some antibiotic topicals.

Ultraviolet keratopathy [welder's flash] would usually be bilateral [both eyes]. Were you welding with one eye open?

The photophobia [light sensitivity] means you may have a mild anterior chamber reaction [inflammation] inside your eye. Could also be from a foreign body. See an eye doctor ASAP and find out.

No, I'm leaning toward the "see an eye doctor ASAP" side. It never ceases to amaze me how losing vision is always listed as the public's number one fear, yet people take such poor care of their eyes.

Listen son, go get it checked out, and report back. I'll be interested to see if you take my advice.

I just got over a scratched cornea. Man, it was horrible. Eye wouldn't stop watering, and I literally could not open my eyes outside.

Get to the doctor right away. If you treat it properly, this thing can be almost completely healed in like 40 hours

Run on a treadmill until it is better, but keep your mileage high.

Took your advice, somewhat, eye doktor.

I wound up going to the ER at a large local hospital Friday evening as the irritation got worse. Beat the college drunk kid rush and got in pretty quick. They had an eye doctor in who was able to treat me.

Turns out I had a large piece of metal stuck on the outer cornea of my eye. The doctor at least said it was in a spot that should not have any real effects on my eye. After poking my eyes with something, dilating, dye tests, and numbing he used a needle to flick off the metal from my eye. At the end of it he said it left about a 0.5mm x 0.5 mm divet in my eye from the process.

I was prescribed two medications, an eye drop and ointment to use multiple times per day for the next 5 days. I also have to go back to the eye clinic at the hospital today for a follow up consult.

My only concern now is that my left eye's vision does not match my right. The doctor that night said I had 20/10 in my right eye with it still being affected by my left eye flickering, but my left eye was then at 20/40. Vision has improved but I still see a significant difference between the two. Hoping to find out it's still in the healing process or these meds are glazing over my eye which is causing some of the blurriness still.

Oh, and I didn't get to run this weekend.

WTF dude? You were grinding metal without eye protection? Seriously, what is wrong with people?

I am trying to find a nicer way to ask this, but WTF were you thinking?

that's why I get paid the big bucks.

The blurry vision is either from corneal edema, a mild anterior chamber reaction, or simply the ointment in your eye. Did they put you on a cycloplegic [dilates your pupil, helps with light sensitivity]?

you're welcome, BTW.

I was wearing safety glasses with side shields when I was grinding, and a visor when welding, as I always do. I have a deep phobia of anything near my eyes so no matter how small or quick the job, I'll always reach for glasses or a visor before the grinder or welder. Out of all my time doing this I've never had this issue, but when you're throwing that many shavings and particles, for one to slip by the other side of the lens sucks--but can't be too surprising. Just a real lousy outcome.

Thank you sir. This was definitely the reason I went and glad I did. This isn't something to try to just tough out.

The two prescriptions they gave me were for vigamox eyedrops and erythromycin ointment. At the ER they first gave me some sort of numbing drops, and then later drops to have me dilated.

Went to the eye clinic at the hospital today for a follow up and was pretty discouraged with everything I was told. My right, non-damaged eye is 20/10 but my left eye is 20/40. Went for a little quicker 9 mile run on trails before my appointment and really noticed the issue. Things just seemed out of balance, and the difference I see between my two eyes has been a big concern since leaving the ER. According to the doctor I still have a "rust ring" 0.3mm x 0.3mm and a scratch from removing the main chunk on Friday night. He said it was embedded too deep and too close an important part of my eye to do anything with it so he wants me to stay on the medications and come back again Friday to see if it "has pushed its way out" at all.

My biggest concern is the discrepancy in vision between both eyes and the doctor really had no encouraging words. I was hoping I was having issues due to the drops and ointment washing out my vision in that eye, and maybe some inflammation causing it as well. The doctor could really only say though "we'll have to see how it moves, even if the scratch heels your vision may stay the same". Not really positive, and given I've always had good vision it's very disconcerting.

He also gave me a prescription for atropine today to dilate my eyes if necessary since I am still having light sensitivity problems.