I often reach into my tanks to replace snail-plowed coral to its position, recover a scraper, place a frag exactly where I want it, etc...
Never had a problem in all the years I've been doing this.
And I've gotten lazy.
Lazy means that I slowly moved away from gloves, then away from the thorough washing of hands, and was, up till last week, on the, 'Well my hands were in the tank, I'll just rinse them quick under water' stage.
And I did just that last Friday night after reaching in for just a second to move a coral plug.
Annnnnddddd, then, at some point about 10 minutes later, I rubbed my eyes.
Within a minute, pins jabbing into my eyes with fire on them was a pretty good description of the pain.
Then burning, itching, instantaneous swelling, and actual eyeball pain - it felt as if my eyeballs were in a vice.
Figuring this was some type of palytoxin/zoatoxin I went to the sink and began flushing my eyes.
I would have driven to the hospital had I been able to see.
After 2+ hours of flushing, ice, anti-inflammatories, and Benadryl, I wasn't blind, though my right eye swelled completely shut for 12 hours and my left was open just a slit.
Here's me after 2-3 hours of flushing, ice, and drugs. Those fluid filled bubble pockets under my eyes and the complete visibility of blood vessels is not the norm. A few hours later the right eye was swollen shut and looked like a golf ball...
Next 24-48 hours consisted of severe burning and pain. By Monday I was able to open the right eye and tonight all seems well.
Don't get lazy. Wear gloves. Wash your hands.
EDIT:
Forgot my wife took this. These were my eyes through Sat and Sunday for the most part (this pic was taken on Sat night, 24 hours after). That right eye was shut like a vice grip.
Note the sultry sexy look is still there, its just impeded by the blood vessels and swellling.
Never had a problem in all the years I've been doing this.
And I've gotten lazy.
Lazy means that I slowly moved away from gloves, then away from the thorough washing of hands, and was, up till last week, on the, 'Well my hands were in the tank, I'll just rinse them quick under water' stage.
And I did just that last Friday night after reaching in for just a second to move a coral plug.
Annnnnddddd, then, at some point about 10 minutes later, I rubbed my eyes.
Within a minute, pins jabbing into my eyes with fire on them was a pretty good description of the pain.
Then burning, itching, instantaneous swelling, and actual eyeball pain - it felt as if my eyeballs were in a vice.
Figuring this was some type of palytoxin/zoatoxin I went to the sink and began flushing my eyes.
I would have driven to the hospital had I been able to see.
After 2+ hours of flushing, ice, anti-inflammatories, and Benadryl, I wasn't blind, though my right eye swelled completely shut for 12 hours and my left was open just a slit.
Here's me after 2-3 hours of flushing, ice, and drugs. Those fluid filled bubble pockets under my eyes and the complete visibility of blood vessels is not the norm. A few hours later the right eye was swollen shut and looked like a golf ball...
Next 24-48 hours consisted of severe burning and pain. By Monday I was able to open the right eye and tonight all seems well.
Don't get lazy. Wear gloves. Wash your hands.
EDIT:
Forgot my wife took this. These were my eyes through Sat and Sunday for the most part (this pic was taken on Sat night, 24 hours after). That right eye was shut like a vice grip.
Note the sultry sexy look is still there, its just impeded by the blood vessels and swellling.
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