# scratched cornea



## Farmer Ferd (Mar 15, 2007)

Two days ago I was doing a large take down. I was ascending for the second time and had most of the branches cut away for a clean climb. foolish me did not wear his glasses for the climb made it up OK but as i was setting up to start cutting I broke a small branch off and was going to throw it aside. as I was picking it up I poked myself right in the eye. It didn't hurt that much at first and I finished the day out. as the day wore on it started hurting more as it turns out I went to the doc and I scratched my cornea. Needless to say I'll be wearing my glasses now when I'm eating breakfast, ouch!!! 
Be safe out there.

Farmer Ferd


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## begleytree (Mar 15, 2007)

you were lucky. those eye scratches hurt though, don't they? 

Glad you'll be OK. Coulda been worse
-Ralph


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## sawsong (Mar 15, 2007)

nasty. I got a metal splinter in my eye a couple of summers back when working on my landrover. had to go to the hospital to have it dug out with a needle. good job im ok with eyes. only thing that sucks is, i have to be careful with dust cos the small flap of skin wont every heal completely so last summer at download festival i got dust in my eye and couldnt open it for a whole day


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## timberwolf (Mar 15, 2007)

I scratched a cornia last fall, chainsaw related, I broke a 1/8 inch file I was using to clean the gullets out, File hit me flat accross the eye. Sore for a few days, but healed up ok, don't think I am any smarter for it, but I do think about putting safety glasses on more. As I don't need to wear glasses yet, I find it hard to use safety glasses to file.


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## begleytree (Mar 15, 2007)

LOL, you want a story, heres one to look out for

quite a few years back I was pruning in Cincy for the power company. I'm in a bucket stretched up a high as I can reach on a big oak that needed a slight fuzzing to a few tips. all the way up, and I had a pruner with an extension on it. at the very tip of my reach was a clip I was after. I made the clip and yup, it slides down the poles. too bad I was facing into the sun and didn't see it comming. a dead twig about 1/2 the dia of your pinky finger seated itself (3 inches long) up in my right nostril, and broke off letting the branchlet fall, and leaving me with a stick up my nose and two handfulls of pruner pole. and wouldn't you know it, that day I happened to be wearing a white T shirt. hard to run a bucket around a 3phase and a big tree on your way to the ground when your eyes are so watered up you can't see.
oh yeah, stick was in my nose a total of 1/2 a second maximum. instinct makes ya grab it and yank. you'd think someone sliced my throat as much blood was all over the bucket, the tree and me and my useless t shirt. thankfully I always kept a few clean shirts on the truck for those sweaty days. 
I can laugh about it now.
-Ralph


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## antigrassguy (Mar 15, 2007)

I was walking a friends new wooded property 3 years ago and I had taken off my sunglasses as it was hard to see in the woods. Ducking and dodging branches and all the sudden, wap, black locust thorn to the eye ball. Ya now how when walking through the woods ya sometimes hold the branch for the person behind you and if they are to far back ya just let it go so ya dont have to stop walking. I was a little to far back I guess. Hurt enough right off the git go, but managed to stick around for a couple of beers. On the drive home the oncoming traffic headlights was almost unbearable. The next morning it hurt, no getting around it. As soon as the sun came up it was unbearable. Oh my gully. Off to the eye doctor and some drops and all is well. 
This is by no means as good a Begley's stick up the nose story. Now that had to be miserable right now.


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## scottbaker (Mar 15, 2007)

Back in the early 70's I worked in NY in my hometown. I had got a pair of safety glasses with side screens. The other guys teased me about them mercilessly.
One day despite having glasses on, I a twig got under and into my eye. I cleared it and carrried on with an irritated eye. That night, while reading at home, my eye freaked out. I used a mirror to explore my eye and was totally grossed out when I fished out a BIG piece of twig all covered with eye gunk. 
Yikes! 
Now days working as a consultant its the bushwhacking and ivy or other vine pulling that we do that seems to be the big eye risk... I am still in the habit of wearing safety glasses....and feel dumb when I find I've forgotten them and I am in the middle of negotiating a blackberry patch!
Scott


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## lawson's tree s (Mar 15, 2007)

had a little peice of wood kick out of a whisper chipper scratched my cornea had to go to the eye doctor gave me some ointment to put in my eye for a week. was not wearing any safety glasses. i do now.


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## Bermie (Mar 15, 2007)

Oh yeah....done that!
I posted a while ago, an ordinary pruning job, a twig flipped up under my visor into my eyeball, tears, pain... 
Went to the ER later when the job was done, scratched cornea, got those sticky eyedrops too.
I now wear funky yellow Stihl glasses all the time, the pain and discomfort and potential for SERIOUS damage to your world windows is well worth the funny looks I get.


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## Chainsaw_Sally (Apr 10, 2007)

I'm a little late to this post, but had to share.

Like a good groundie, I was chukkin' brush one mornin, and just to prove I was as tough as the 65 year old guy groundin' with me, I picked up a *BIIG* armload. I wear glasses and chipshield all the time when grounding to avoid getting hit in the face, but this time, some how, a little branch, half the diam. of my pinky, and twice as long, managed to get by my screen and rammed right up my nose. I swear I felt it scrape the back of my head! 

I dropped the armload of brush, dislodging the _twig_ and staggered back to the truck. All the guy in the bucket knew was there was a loud "f:taped: :taped: k!!" and blood running down my face. He gave me 20 minutes to stop the bleeding or he was taking me to the ER. Not to be seen as a weakling, I packed it and kept going. 

But right now, just telling this, I can still feel the damn stick scraping the back of my sinuses. <<shudder>>


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## Jumper (Apr 10, 2007)

I managed to scratch mine as the result of having dry eyes, to the point that my eye lid tore the cornea's surface-major pain due to the concentration of nerves on the eye's surface. I had a couple of 1.5 mm tears on one eye, and smaller ones on the other. Two emerg visits to the hospital opthamologist later to clean out the mess and I started to get better though my eyes were very sensitive for a while. I always have worn safety glasses a matter of course, the styles available today are quite fashionable.


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## John Paul Sanborn (Apr 11, 2007)

Chainsaw_Sally said:


> But right now, just telling this, I can still feel the damn stick scraping the back of my sinuses. <<shudder>>



Been there, not fun. I too can feel it just thinking of it [shudder]

My cornial abrasion was on a rainy day around 98 or so. It was cold and my glasses were fogging. I had a simple silver maple roof clearance job to do before going back to the shop. I got tired of the glasses fogging and through them to the groundie. 

I turned around and got the terminal bud of a sprout right in the eye. That eye was hypersensitive for years.



> .and feel dumb when I find I've forgotten them and I am in the middle of negotiating a blackberry patch!



Think you would want full face shield on that.


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