# Subconjunctival Hemorrhage



## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

This is what the doctors call a bruised eyeball.

We have a fire pit in our backyard, and a couple weeks ago, one of our teenage boys wanted to have some friends over to celebrate the beginning of the summer break. We have plenty of firewood, but were a bit thin on kindling to get a fire started. I had some 1x scraps, so I decided to cut some up on the miter saw.

While cutting the last piece, I heard some noise behind be. Half a dozen teenagers tend to make noise. As I turned my head to look over my shoulder, I lifted my fingers off the piece. In the span of a nanosecond, the blade kicked that piece into the saw, which then ricocheted into my eye.

Aside from the pain, which was severe, I had blurred vision and trouble focusing for several days. Went to the optometrist because frankly, I was afraid of losing my vision. Luckily...it was just blunt force trauma and would heal over time.

Moral of the story: always wear eye protection. Even if you're just doing something quick and easy that you've done a hundred times before. You never know when you might do something stupid.

:vs_cool:


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## Catpower (Jan 11, 2016)

July 3 will be the one year anniversary of the first major injury in my 50 or so years of wood working, I was cutting stickers for a flitch cut walnut log I had scored, not paying attention I let the push stick hit the back of the blade and it kicked back so hard in made my palm look like hamburger


I am still kind of gun shy of the table saw, and for once wished I hadn't gone with the 5hp option, maybe 1 1/2 hp might not have been so bad LOL


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

Primary moral of the story: Never take your eyes off the tool. Secondary moral: no horseplay in or around the workshop. Tertiary moral, wear glasses

If were being brutally honest, your mistake wasnt the lack of safety glasses. At least, that wasnt the mistake that led to injury. That was thinking it was a good idea to take your eyes off the workpiece with a tool running. Nothing short of a miracle that you got away with what you did, a temporary inconvenience that should heal with no lasting effects. Most people lose fingers after something like that


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

epicfail48 said:


> Nothing short of a miracle that you got away with what you did, a temporary inconvenience that should heal with no lasting effects. Most people lose fingers after something like that


You're absolutely right. I was lucky my hand didn't get pulled into the saw or lose an eye. The doctor said the flat end of the board must've impacted my eyeball, because if it had been the jagged edge, I'd probably have to come up with a pirate name. 

Truth is, I'm worried about the lasting effects. Definitely gun shy around the miter saw now - I haven't turned it on since. Told myself this was a good chance to develop my hand sawing skills, but if I'm being honest, I've stood there looking at it and have been afraid to use it.


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## Toolman50 (Mar 22, 2015)

If you didn’t get permanent damage you’re a very lucky man. 
Hard safety lesson learned for sure.


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## WeebyWoodWorker (Jun 11, 2017)

Lordy mate! Sure glad it wasn't worse! That's be awful


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## johnep (Apr 12, 2007)

You have had what is often termed "a poke in the eye" Usually suffered by people bending over a plant which has a bamboo stake.
Treatment normally with an anti inflammatory and steroid.
Medical term. an acute red eye.
You have been very lucky.
johnep


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

Take care, Anthony, that was a really close call to losing an eye.
Happens so quick.

Never stand in direct line with the TS blade.
Ripping 2x4 is exactly at crotch height. Exactly.

I was cutting 18" x 1/4" Plexiglas. 80T x 10" blade, up maybe less than 2".
Plexi spits a lot, goggles over my glasses but felt some crap hit my forehead.
Blood on my hand, wiping my forehead.
One of the TC teeth had come off the blade and stuck into my forehead.

Full face shield ever since. 20 years+ by now. I still get hit with shrapnel.
With hearing protection, it seems to take longer to get dressed up than to make the cut.
I've learned some very close lessons.
There's no percentage to gamble here.


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## gmercer_48083 (Apr 9, 2016)

Anthony, Sorry to hear about your accident. I hope it heals quickly and completely. I can understand your reluctance to use it right now...I think that will fade over time and you will have become a safer power tool user.


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## Pineknot_86 (Feb 19, 2016)

Hope your vision recovers quickly and completely. I had a minor TS kickback a few months ago. I let up on the push stick just a tad and the wood block caught me on the forearm. Got a light scar. I don't stand in line with the blade and try to keep much of me out of the way as possible. The blade is higher than some other saws.


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

AmishElectricCompany said:


> You're absolutely right. I was lucky my hand didn't get pulled into the saw or lose an eye. The doctor said the flat end of the board must've impacted my eyeball, because if it had been the jagged edge, I'd probably have to come up with a pirate name.
> 
> Truth is, I'm worried about the lasting effects. Definitely gun shy around the miter saw now - I haven't turned it on since. Told myself this was a good chance to develop my hand sawing skills, but if I'm being honest, I've stood there looking at it and have been afraid to use it.


The gun-shyness is probably a good thing, it reminds you what's actually at stake and why you should always respect the tool. I did something similar with my table saw a while back, got complacent, wasn't paying enough attention to the cut and damn near sliced my finger in half. 

You can bet your rear every time I've used that machine since then, I was very careful to plot the path of the cut and make sure my hands were very, very far away from it. The best lessons are the hardest to learn, eh?


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## allpurpose (Mar 24, 2016)

My father had a CRVO, Central retinal vein occlusion which really is basically a stroke in the eye.. He's completely blind in what used to be his good eye. His other eye has had a chunk of glass in it since the 1950s.. he was in a jeep wreck in the Marine corps the very day before his company shipped out to Korea. Nearly his entire company was killed the first day they landed.. 

Anyway, he's blind in one eye and can't see out of the other.. I'm not particularly sold on the idea of living to 89 like my dad... It's not much fun for him anymore..

I've been much more careful with the saw since almost losing my fingertip recently.. When I start feeling kind of complacent at the saw i pack it in for the day and call it quits..


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## Catpower (Jan 11, 2016)

allpurpose said:


> My father had a CRVO, Central retinal vein occlusion which really is basically a stroke in the eye.. He's completely blind in what used to be his good eye. His other eye has had a chunk of glass in it since the 1950s.. he was in a jeep wreck in the Marine corps the very day before his company shipped out to Korea. Nearly his entire company was killed the first day they landed..
> 
> Anyway, he's blind in one eye and can't see out of the other.. I'm not particularly sold on the idea of living to 89 like my dad... It's not much fun for him anymore..
> 
> I've been much more careful with the saw since almost losing my fingertip recently.. When I start feeling kind of complacent at the saw i pack it in for the day and call it quits..



About 10 years ago my wife was getting new glasses and the optometrist, told she had had an eye stroke that she needed to see an ophthalmologist ( real Dr) so she made an appt, we had BCBS ins they said she would just have to pay the $25 deductible, so we went and the Dr spent about an hour looking in her eyes taking neat pictures of the inside and showing us what he had found.


There was nothing that could be done, no permanent damage, and about two weeks later we got the bill for over $1500, BCBS claimed they didn't have to pay for it because she didn't have vision on her policy 



After all the appeals we ended up getting hosed for about $1000, for just telling her nothing could be done


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