I wear glasses, and am thinking about getting contacts soon. Wondering if the fumes from glueing and painting cause any trouble while wearing contacts?
[8D]
Thanks,
DJ
I’ve never had any problem with the fumes. The problem I’ve had lately is that I have a stigmatism and the soft contacts I wear these days don’t seem to correct that as well as the gas permeable ones I used to wear…
I wear glasses just to make sure tiny bits of plastic and metal don’t end up embedded in my cornea…
I wear both contacts & glasses - quite frankley wearing glasses pisses me off while modeling - and it doesnt matter wat I’m doin or how long I plan to model. No probs with fumes at all, but just like any safety precautions, U should ALWAYS use goggles while spray painting or esp with SANDING - cos the fine grit/dust can get into your eyes/contacts and removing contacts while covered with dust all over your hands, and while your eyes are stinging, and you cant get fast enough to the bathroom to wash your eyes out cos your tripping over the furniture that always seems to be the way, blah, blah, blah - quite funny stuff but trust me IT CAN HAPPEN (not that this happened to me yet but this is how I image the events would unfold!)
Ehm… Luke, could you adjust your language just ever so slightly?
I am nearsighted but still wear glasses for reading and modeling. As I get older and start to lose my reading vision, was thinking that I would wear contacts and use reading glasses (I really don’t like bifocals). Until then I guess I’ll stick with glasses as they give some protection while building and painting.[8D]
DJ
Here we go again [D)]
Having worked in Ophthalmology for the last six years and fitting contacts daily, there are some precautions you may want to be aware of:
First, it depends on the type of contact you’re planning on wearing PPG & RGP (the uncomfortable hard kind) are nice in that they won’t allow fine particulates to imbend themselves into the CL material as a general rule. The downside is that they scratch easily, and particularly if you’re working with sanpaper you don’t want to sand and then rub your eyes. You can scratch not only the lenses themselves, but also your cornea(s). NOT fun. You’ll heal, but you’ll hate life while you do.
Second type and by far the most widely dispensed are the soft lenses. It doesn’t matter the brand or the power so much, they all use a fairly similar construct. Anyway, these are much more likely to absorb foreign bodies and particulate matter. Think of this type of lens almost like a plastic sponge. Most soft contacts are about 50% water anyway - they almost feel like a gel. If you get ANY particulate matter in the lens it is immediate trash can fodder. DO NOT try to EVER re-wear a contaminated lens.
It’s always wise to wear eye protection whenever possible - and contacts just don’t cut it on their own. Just to hit this point home, I’ve seen people come in and assisted when they had a microscopic bit of plastic or metal imbedded in their eye. Guess how we get it out??? Yep! A mini dremel tool. We just drill out a hunk of eyeball and hopefully we get it all out the first time. We use numbing drops of course, but when they wear off it can be…um…uncomfortable for several days.
Take care of your eyes - you ony get one set!
Bri~
You bracing for it too Jeeves?
mini dremel? eyeball?? [:O]
(loud thump as I faint and hit the floor)
No joke Karl! It’s better than having a shard of metal or some other object imbed itself in the sclera or cornea and lacerating the crap out of that as well as the inner lid each time you blink too!
It’s pretty intense to watch it being done though.
I’m so nearsighted that I just take my contacts out while modeling, even at my advanced age I can see better up close than with any lenses. But I still wear safety glasses when painting or during ops producing particles. Working at a shipyard will give you a lot of examples to learn from.
Hmm, maybe I’ll just use the tricky bifocals instead of contact lenses.
DJ
sorry mate - slight slip of the tongue!
How true!
I wear hard lens contacts exclusively - never had any problems with fumes causing problems with just the contacts, but I’ve found that some casting resins emit fumes that can end up stinging the eyes and throat - and that really has nothing to do with the contacts - but I tend to wear a filtered respirator mask (like auto spray painters use) when I’m doing anything nasty - like painting, sanding resin or casting resin.
Having said that, I find the dust particles can play merry hell with my eyes, so I ALWAYS wear SAFETY GLASSES - they’re cheap. Let me repeat that - they’re cheap. Your eyes are not. I’ve seen some simply horriffic penetrating trauma - most of it resulting in permanent loss of sight (or at least a percentage of loss of sight).
Play it safe and act paranoid - use more safety gear than you think you really need - I’ve seen real “he men” laugh off the safety gear issue, then end up bleeding. It’s ok - I still visit them in hospital when they go “oops”.
I wear contacts and have never had a problem with fumes.
Bifocal are really tough when modeling…you have to adjust to be able to see through the close up part and if you are using optivisors, getting the two aligned is a royal pain.