Whats the worst possible outcome of changing oil?

Just a little reminder of the whoops that can happen with you body instead of your car. Last Tuesday I changed my oil, with out wearing proper eye protection. A metalic flake landed in the cornea! I didn't really feel anything until many hours later, when I felt like an eye lash had fallen in my eye. After rubbing and flushing my eye, trying to find the lash, I saw a small speck on the cornea. Deciding that I couldn't budge it off, I went to the ER. Here comes the worst part; they removed the flake but had to drill out the rust ring. Three days later,after 3 eye drillings, one eye needle scratch, I am typing this on a message board with a blurred left eye. Sucks to be me, but atleast the truck sounds and runs better .

 

[2001ExpSport]

Ouch, that really sucks. I bet it was painfull!! I can remember seriously scratching my eye and it hurt! It's unfortunate that you got some metal in your eye. This only shows the importance of safety equipment when most people would think it is not necessary.

Hope you get well soon!

 

[Trckmagik]

sorry to hear about that Wilk. That doesnt sound like to much fun at all. Hope you get well soon, and make a run down to your local auto house and get you some safety glasses.

 

[wilk1]

Thanks gents, actually it was a whole lot less painful than what I thought it would be. The Dr. prescribed some vicadin, but I on;y took one tablet. However, in the future you can bet I will be investing in a good pair of safety glasses.
8)

 

[Brian1]

Originally posted by wilk1
3 eye drillings

OUUCH! That sounds painful! Hope your eye heals properly. I always try to wear saftey glasses no matter what I am doing under the vehicle. I hope your experience teaches a lesson to others.

 

[Peter John di Iorio]

Save 7 seconds and spend a fortune

The only people that don't have to wear safety glasses are ones under 21 (cause they think, just as we thought) nothing can happen to me! And people in a hurry cause they don't understand the phrase "saftey FIRST". Otherwise.... remember the leather gloves before ya reel out the winch cable. I'm not a know-it-all but, I've spent more in doctor bills and pain than I have in taxes.

 

[riffman]

but nothing CAN happen to me!!!!! haha

ok seriously...i have really learned that eyes are somthing you just don't mess around with....i had coneal abrasions from when i left in my contacts for about 3 weeks straight....and they're not the ones that can do that with....


Wilk, man..that really sucks!! Is there any permanent damage? HOPE NOT!!! What did they say about driving w\ one less than perfect eye?




P.S. 800 POSTS!!! WOO HOO WOO HOO WOO HOO WOO HOO WOO HOO WOO HOO !!!!!!!!!!

 

[amracer]

ouch man. that does suck. hope you get better.

 

[gijoecam]

I'm curious too... do they expect a full recovery?

I ALWAYS leave a pair of safety glasses at my parents for when I'm working on my vehicles over there. I had a similar experience a few years ago.. had my regular glasses on, but when I hit the bolt with the impact wrench, all the dirt and debris under the truck rained down on me (should've gone to the car wash first!) and got some dust and dirt in my eye... luckily a good flush under the faucet was able to remove the dirt and crud, but it taught me a lesson.... always wash the undercarriage first! No! I mean wear safety glasses.
-Joe-

 

[wilk1]

Eye UPDATE

I went in to the doctors (Tues.-Friday), consecutively, finally ending up seeing an opthamologist. He really didn't seem too concerned, but, maybe it is just an HMO thing. When they tested my eyes, I had 20/20 in the unaffected eye and slightly worse than 20/50 in the damaged eye. I know it could have been a lot worse, especially if the metal had landed directly on pupil (the flake fell on the colored iris part) so I am pretty thankful. Anyhow, since then, I believe that my eye has gotten better and better, but there was some evidence of scarring according to the doctor. He said that I have basically a 50-50 chance of losing some acuity. I am hoping it is minimal though. After all this is sunny california, and summer beach season is right around the corner .

As for 21 year olds having to learn the lesson, lets raise the bar up a notch cause I am 22 and still no smarter than a cup-o-dirt . I just took the Explorer out for the first time since the eye drillings and seemed to handle it pretty well. Admittedly, it is annoying when both eyes do not match each other perfectly, but driving is still relatively smooth. I suppose all those times I spent driving with only one contact after going to the beach really paid off in the end. Thanks for all the concern, and have a Merry Christmas!

 

[Tom Wilk]

Well, I'd better count my blessings, namesake. I've been very lucky. Until more recent years, I never wore eye protection while under the car. Just didn't do it. Not the smartest thing, I suppose, but that's the way it was. I've never had any serious problems, but there were undoubtedly plenty of opportunities for metal to get in there. Nowdays, I always wear some type of protection under there.

Hopefully, things should be better soon for you. It sounds downright painful. Extremely. This should be a lesson to us all.

 

[riffman]

I know i should wear em, but the thing of it is, is I can't find any that are comfortable enought to wear!! They usually end up sliding down my nose or just annoying me.....so if i start w\ em, then i end up cussing at them and throwing them on the ground!!

anybody know of any that are comfortable?

 

[wilk1]

I don't know of a comfortable pair, but the opthamologist recommended a certain type. I don't remember what the name is, so I'll have to check it out and get back to you. But as far as comfort is concerned, a poorly fit pair of glasses beats an eye drilling any day!

 

[Blaine Cooper]

I'm so stupid I've had that happen to me twice. First time I bet it was in there a day or 2 with me rubbing the crap out of my eye and blinking a lot before somebody noticed a black speck on my eye. The doc just picked it off and buzzed the rust ring off and sent me home. I may've worn a patch overnight.

 

[Clint]

I got shot in the eye with a paintball and had to wear a metal patch on my left eye becuase if i fell or hit it while sleeping i could lose my vision forever . I had a bruised and partly detached retna i couldn't see anything but maybe shadows . the reason i was't wearing my mask is because they had a scratch in the lense that i couldn't see all that well out of them go's to show how stupid us teens can really be

 

[MNOttFam]

fuel filters?

Well, I was changing the fuel filter in a friends '97 Mazda Protege, and didn't figure that there would be any problem. I love my Fords, and never thought that they would hire some sadistic a@@hole to decide where to mount the fuel filter--try at the BOTTOM of the firewall, above all the power steering, so there's no real way to get to it. Well, I was under the car holding Fords Mickey-mouse hose clamp open with a pair of pliers, and had tied a rope to the filter and had her up on top of the motor pulling on the filter. Well, the hose finally let go, and I got a face full of gas. Safety glasses wouldn't have helped a bit--the gas would have run in around them.

Ever get gas in your eyes? Not very fun. She led me in, as I howled in pain the whole way. My wife took over guiding me when I got in the house, straight to the shower, clothes and all, and stood under it, trying to hold my eyes open to flush them out. Until then, I never realized that gas is "oily." It took a long time to flush them out, but I was feeling a lot better after about an hour.

 

[JWood]

Sorry to hear about your incident.......

but that's one reason I go to Firestone for oil changes. Learned my lesson a long time ago after spilling the oil I just drained onto my driveway - what a mess!! For $15.00 they do the oil change, check/refill fluids, dispose of everything and rotate my tires, and I'm out-a-there!!

Now, a fuel filter is a bit different - not sure what they would charge for that, seems pretty tricky though.

Just a thought!

 

[mattadams]

man, I was putting the brush guard on my truck the other day and slush was falling in my eyes like crazy. Finally after loosing vision temporarily for a few seconds at a time I finally got my safety goggles, they helpe da ton . I typically don't wear them just when changing the oil (though I know I should) but I was drilling my bumper the other day for the license plate fram eand I put the goggles on about 5 minutes too late... after flushing and rubbing like hell it finally came out, thank goodness. I always get a kick out of the people that are like "glasses are for whimps", yeah, well so are seat belts but I wear one of those too. LOL

 

[mattadams]

I'd like to bump this to the top again... since I spent half of today trying to fish a metal flake out of my eye... in retrospect I could've gone to the ER... but I'm pretty sure I've got it out now with lots of flushing! I was drilling holes and running the wires through my rollbar in my F-150, well I wore goggles when drilling holes and even ofr part of fishing out the wire (which ended up being about a 6 hour chore! but I took the goggles off for about 5 minutes so I could see the wires better, and sure enough there was a flake headed right for my eye! Couldn't get it out for the longest time either (but like I said I can't feel it in there now so I'm pretty sure I got it out)
Wear goggles... all the time! LOL

 

[Blue Steel]

damn man. i feel for ya. i've had a cat scratch my eye once and it sucked. almost worth the 20 bucks to get the oil changed for ya