Re: uv dangers from uncovered gap

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <MShock8073-at-aol-dot-com>

In a message dated 6/4/01 2:11:53 PM Eastern Daylight Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com 
writes:

<<  'An electrical worker threw an uncovered electrical switch into a
 closed position resulting in an electrical spark'.
 
 
  'A welder threw open his protective face shield to better position a
 welding rod, the rod contacted metal and produced a spark'.
 
 Nothing particularly unusual about these occurrences except both men
 were wearing contact lenses. On returning home they removed the contact
 lenses and the cornea of the eye was removed along with the lens. The
 result was instant blindness! An investigation revealed in both cases
 the electrical arc generated microwaves that had dried up the fluids
 between the eye and the contact lens. >>

This sounds like a story that my little brothers' girlfriends' olderbrothers' 
friends' next door neighbor knew about a girl that went to a prom with a boy 
from another school and they ran out of gas on a deserted dirt road and 
despite his raging teenage hormones decided to walk alone back to a deserted 
farmhouse while she stayed in the car listening to something scratch the roof 
of the car all night long .......... yadayada ...... urban legend nonsense!

Just to make sure, I asked my lifelong friend who is now a practicing 
optometrist and he said the same thing ...... nonsense! He has treated all 
kinds of stupid injuries on peoples' eyes and said the peeling off of the 
cornea resulting in instant, permanent, non repairable blindness from a 
painless and unnoticed burn is all but impossible. He said the usual 
progression of a welding arc exposure injury is a delayed reaction like 
sunburn (actually he said it WAS corneal sunburn called "UV induced 
keratitis" ) and that the cornea is blistered underneath the lens and when 
the lens is removed it is like peeling open a blister to expose the raw 
tissue underneath. This might feel like you just ripped off your cornea. I 
especially found it humorous when he talked about the average guy with 
welding burns claiming he only looked at the arc "for a second" and his 
entire face is sunburned from the long term exposure to the arc.

Also, drying out contact lenses is not unheard of according to him and can 
peel off the outer layer of the cornea called something I am almost afraid to 
type ......the epithelium (where is a med spell check when you need it?).  He 
said this will be peeled away with the dried out contact lens and is rather 
painful according to him but is far from instant blindness and more like a 
scrape on your skin.

As far as the microwave idea..... If my welder could cook food that 
efficiently I would have it on the kitchen counter instead of the microwave 
oven! Supposedly the tears underneath the contact lens was boiled dry 
instantly but there was no sensation to the 212 degree F liquid, and there 
was no heating of the internal eyeball fluid just a fraction of a millimeter 
beyond the contact lens and no heating of the face in general? ....what do 
you think are the qualifications required to get a job as a journalist for 
this magazine? How about the editor? I bet they would run a story about a 
silenced revolver used in a drive by shooting..... and I thought I was 
unqualified to be an editor!

Don't stare at your spark gap! Don't wash your hands with gasoline while 
smoking! Don't feed the bears! Don't believe everything you read in a 
magazine!

Amazed,
Marc S.