At LittleLee and Rose we talk about the importance of PPE all the time. PPE stands for Personal Protection Equipment. For all intents and purposes, PPE in the epoxy and resin world is a chemical respirator mask that fits over your nose and mouth and nitrile gloves.
Now, there is a difference between food grade rubber gloves and nitrile gloves. Nitrile gloves block harmful fumes and particles, not just liquid and food contact. Not every creator and epoxy artists follow this rule of thumb, there are varying viewpoints in the industry, but we fall on the conservative side and preach it adamantly at LittleLee and Rose.
I’m articulating this for a very specific reason – because I got lazy and was very lucky with an unfortunate epoxy contamination close call.
While prepping a glittered epoxy cup, I put on my chemical respirator and a nitrile glove on my right hand only. I am right-handed, so I figured I would save a glove since my left hand would only be holding the cup and would not encounter the epoxy. (MISTAKE #1)
I mixed the low VOC, FDA compliant epoxy as I normally do, with a 1:1 ratio and proceeded to the turning room to apply it to the glittered tumbler. Everything went very smoothly. My epoxy went on perfect with no fisheyes, I didn’t spill any and there were no air bubbles. With that, I grabbed the epoxy cup in my gloved hand and pulled the glove over the epoxy cup to safely discard them both without exposing the epoxy. I stepped on the trash can and threw them both away without incident.
Now, I was applying epoxy after 10PM, I like to do it at night so it’s dry in the morning and I can swap cups and turn a second one first thing. However, after 14 hours of wearing my disposable contacts, they got very dry, and I reached in and took them out without a second thought. (MISTAKE #2)
I swapped my crafting clothes for pajamas, used the restroom, washed my hands and hopped in bed. Gosh was my eye itchy. 2 minutes later, gosh was my eye itchy. 2 minutes later, gosh my eye is burning, and it feels a little swollen. I got up to wash my eye out and it was severely swollen (nearly shut) and bright red. OMG, I took my contacts out without washing my hands after using epoxy!
While I hadn’t had any physical contact with epoxy, my LEFT hand was exposed to epoxy fumes by holding the cup without a nitrile glove. I had contaminated my left eye with epoxy fumes, and it was now on fire!!
I quickly began dousing my eye with cool water trying to flush out the stinging sensation. I had mild relief. So, I grabbed some eye drops and began flushing my eye with those too. It was still stinging. Obviously, my next step was Dr. Google (MISTAKE #3). Now, if you google “epoxy in eye” there are all kinds of scary warnings… “Flush it out for 30 minutes in warm water and immediately seek medical attention.” “Epoxy exposure can cause blindness if left untreated” and many, many more. It was 11PM, I did not have time for an emergency room visit. So, I began to flush my eye out. First in the sink… that seemed somewhat ineffective, so I hopped in the shower and let warm water run down my forehead and into my eye. Much better, but all I could think of was, ‘how much water was I wasting’? Yes, crazy, I know, water conservation was weighing on my mind in the face of potential blindness.
So, I got out of the shower and decided that soaking my eye and face in a bowl of warm water was better. I literally stuck my whole left side in, opening my eye under water and moving it from side to side to side to swish it around. Then, I began blowing bubbles in the water with my mouth thinking the agitation might help flush my eye. 15 minutes later, I came up for air, literally. Back to Dr. Google. “How long should you flush your eye from chemical exposure?” 20-30 minutes. Oy.
I repeated the shower flush and the warm water bowl one more time. The total time of my eye flush was about 47 minutes. My eye was much less red and much less swollen, but still not normal. It didn’t hurt or burn anymore either, I think I had successfully flushed my eye. However, Dr. Google’s advice of seeking a medical professional was nagging at me. By now, it was almost midnight, I was definitely not going out. So, I took my chances and went to bed. (SUCH A DUMB GAMBLE)
When I woke up the next day, I quickly looked around to see if I was blind. I was not. My eye was not in pain but it was still a little swollen. It felt as if it were very dry or there was a piece of sand in it. Urgent care didn’t open until 8, so I had 90 minutes to linger over whether or not to go. Ultimately, I decided not to go as the swelling and redness had subsided. I kept it moisturized with eye drops for the day and luckily made a full recovery. I had narrowly escaped a HUGE consequence of my laziness.
Please learn from my experience and don’t mess with your health to save a glove, some things just aren’t worth it.
Proper Epoxy PPE Reminder:
- Chemical Respirator
- Nitrile gloves on EACH hand
- Discard all epoxy and disposable products safely
- Wash hands after removing gloves with soap and warm water