That Stings...

So today after work I came home and my contacts were bothering me a little so opened a new bottle of contact solution and put some in my eye. Right away I could tell that something wasn't right. It didn't feel soothing, more like acid burning my eye. I grabbed the bottle to try to read what to do if you get it in contact with your eye but sadly my eye was burning and I was having trouble reading the label(they should really make those warning labels in braille, so if this happens you can still read it. How can you read a warning label that would potentially save your eyes if you've just blinded yourself and can no longer see?). So I went with my basic instincts. I got my contact out as fast as I could and put my eye under running water. Funny thing I noticed. I can't hold my eye open under running water and breathe at the same time, or maybe that was just the panic.

After I had flushed my eye with water for a good ten minutes, I could now read the label with the good eye I have left. I could now see it wasn't the normal saline solution I usually use but a special cleansing solution. Across the top of the bottle was printed, "DO NOT PUT DIRECTLY IN EYE" Further down it read, "Warning: Do not put hydrogen peroxide cleaning and disinfecting solution on your lenses and insert directly into eye. Never rinse your lenses with hydrogen peroxide cleaning and disinfecting solution prior to insertion. If hydrogen peroxide cleaning and disinfecting solution accidentally comes in contact with eyes, it may cause burning stinging or redness. Remove your len(ses) immediately and flush your eyes with a large amount of water or sterile saline solution.

One of my figure drawing teachers once told us a story about an artist who was an amazing figure draftsman. One day he had an accident and lost the use of one of his eyes. Afterward though his art only got better because it is easier to draw something from real life with only one eye. He said, "If I had known how much better I'd draw without it I would have poked it out a long time ago."

I think my eye is fine though, even though I haven't put my contact back in yet so I can't be sure. Right now everything is blurry, but that's the way it's always been.