Here at Broadbent Miller Plastering we do not even pretend to be qualified medical professionals; however, last week one of our MD’s Tom had first-hand experience of being a patient after dropping wet plaster in his eye.
This, and the events that followed, led us to reach out to our customers and colleagues in the hope that others would be able to avoid injuring themselves in this way- firstly because it is dangerous and secondly because it bloody hurts.
1. Wash the plaster out immediately – ideally using a shower and ideally for as long as 10 minutes.
Tom didn’t have access to a shower but did manage to use pre-packaged bottles of sterilised water in the first aid kit in the van.
2. Go straight to A&E –
This situation, unbeknown to Tom, is classified as an emergency in the UK. Whilst it is tempting to ‘see how it goes’ or wait until the end of the day like he did, the chemicals in the plaster change the pH of the fluid in your eye causing chemical burns and possible irreversible damage. Go straight away- the walls can wait!
3. Follow the guidance–
Due to leaving the injury until later in the day, we enjoyed an evening tour of the hospitals and pharmacies of Leeds to get Tom treated. The lovely nurses of Wharfedale Hospital Minor Injuries worked hard to lower the pH of his eye by flushing it out with water- 2 ½ litres of it in the end. Also, the On-call Ophthalmologist at St James’ was incredibly thorough when checking for damage caused by the plaster. Despite it being 11pm by the time we left them, we searched for an all-night pharmacy to find the drops he needed. Even though Tom had jobs booked in the next morning, he still rearranged these to allow for him to pick up his hospital prescriptions and visit the eye clinic- it is his vision after all!
4.Learn your lesson–
Here at Broadbent Miller we believe that doing exactly the same thing again and expecting different results is pure insanity; therefore, the goggles (that were sitting in the back of the van) will forever more be worn at work- especially when completing slopes or ceilings.
The truly frustrating part of this for Tom was that it was completely avoidable and he had the equipment in the van the whole time.
As we said, we are in no way medical experts and this post is purely based on our personal experiences. If you need further information, then consult the NHS website.