[Maj.Cottonmouth]

FTW

Originally Posted by Mr Celsius

After having grown vertical for years now and many years of flat before that, I now need glasses and my vision has been ruined.

As vertical growers, you especially are vulnerable to eye damage. I highly suggest turning your HID's off when working in your room/s. If you can't be bothered by that, then get at least 2 pairs of really good sunglasses that can overlap each other.

Metal halides put off UV but HPS don't. If running MH vertically, this will degrade your eyes rapidly. You must wear UV protected sunglasses if working in your room/s with the lights on.

Please listen and learn from my mistakes.

Edit:

Since the creation of this thread, many people have shared their knowledge and experience. A lot of us have purchased Shade 5 welding goggles and it has helped drastically. I still recommend turning your lights off if you need to do some work, but again, if you can't be bothered, goto amazon.com and type in shade 5 (or IR 5) welding goggles. I got the fancy "fly" ones, so it was $13.00 with super saver shipping, but they have a pair that is $7.00.

People spend way more then $7.00 on any other aspect of their grow, invest in yourself.

Thank you for this great tip. I've been looking at a pair of glacier goggles but they are kind of pricey for this application. The welding goggles is a much better solution.

[real ting]

Originally Posted by Maj.Cottonmouth

FTW

This guy is right, I had a pair of shade 5 glasses that were the normal kind, just like wraparound sunglasses. Because when you are working in the grow room you end up with your head at odd angles to the bulb, and the light will still shine in through the sides. They also tended to slip down my nose when working and having to look down or crane my neck oddly. I would still end up with my eyes feeling funny after working in the room for a while.

I later picked up some of the ones maj cottonmouth posted, I got the flip up kind. They are still shade 5 but work much better. The strap keeps it on your head, and if you are facing perpendicular to the bulb the pieces on the side actually block the direct light source from being visible. I think they were 12$.


I do wonder how well the shade 5 lens blocks the spectrum hps lights are in, it would be good to compare the charts of both to see if they really are the ideal solution. If anyone knows an eye doctor or maybe someone who works safety lenses it would be great if they could ask them about it.

edit: I still would prefer to open the door right at the end of the light cycle, wait till lights go off, then do my work in the dark room with a flashlight or incandescent on. No worries about eye damage, and it can be good to water at the beginning or end of the day.

[OregonMediGrowr]

I have to agree that you can really mess up your eyes with HID. I didn't ware eye protection for my first years of growing, and now I have floaters in my eyes from burning my eyes so much. Since that happened I have always worn dark Aviators in the grow room. In addition to being awesome they have a good amount of uv protection, works for us flat gardeners.

[Zendo]

I got two pair of these shade #5's on ebay for $5 a pair, I cannot even tell you how well these work. I wouldn't grow vert without them.

[Neo 420]

Just want to say "Thanks Everyone". Read the whole thread and now buying a pair of Shade #5 welder glass today. I will be online in a day or so (First vert gro). Probably saved me some damage.

[alamony2005]

I put on a pair of Von Zipper shades that my girl had... the BUG EYE huge ass ones... lol. But i will be going into the room with my automatic welding helmet from Snap On tools =)

[GanjaPharma]

I started using welding goggles (15 bucks on amazon) and they help alot, when i cant be bothered to turn off my vert lights. I also noticed i was getting a stinging sensation on my arms and exposed skin after working (with goggles on) for a few hours. i decided it would be a real bummer if i got skin cancer from uv exposure.
now i turn em off if i can. and if i cant i wear a long-sleeve jacket and jeans.

it's up to us to figure out where the health risks are, and work to avoid them. pretty sure the usda/fda wont be issuing guidelines anytime soon.

THANKS SO MUCH for getting the word out, It took me a year, and much spotty vision to get with the program. hopefully this will help folks making the switch to vertical!

[Marquis de Sod]

hi guys! hey i'm a fucking pro on something! wow. sure as fuck aint growing them tho. bummer.

Do get those cheap-o mad scientist goggles that cover your whole eye! Wouldnt hurt to have some kind of reflector and/or cover as shown in this thread, ALSO!

Do not worry about UV or IR. it is the Intensity of the light itself that will fry your fucking eyeballs over time. here is a site you can look at high end glasses at: https://www.phillips-safety.com/store...hp?cPath=40_56 you can click on the types of glass (3 and 5 etc) and get an explanation of the virtues of each)

would i go there? probably not. those amazon glasses with #5 lenses should be just fine. any other glasses and you will need side shields but you will still see the light above the lenses so what is the point. i will not go vert till i got a pair of those Back to the Future goggles. end of story. or is it the beginning?....

oh yeah, the beginning. i bragged myself up as being joe pro on this. hmmm. yeah, too fucking bad.

six years making neon. not bending it, but processing it: Bombarding it it's called. So i guess i was the Bombadier, haha!

Not so much UV i dont think, heat? IR? i doubt that too. Guess i aint so smart. My glass only got to 451 degrees. I turn off the 12,000 Volt transformer at that point, after about five minutes at one amp. do the math 12KW. Not all that hot as melting glass is pushing 2000F. IR from heat? it DOES cause cataracts. Gee, after six years I got cataracts in both eyes at age 40! But lemme tell you, i am convinced it was the brightness. 5 days a week, 7 hours a day of looking at 12KW light bulbs, two at a time mostly. just plastic lens glasses. plastic does block most of the UV btw. may have even been glass. but i stick to my story, it was the brightness. No there is no study to back me up. In fact nobody even believes it was my job!!!! Never heard of it they say! I been doin this for 30 years and no cataracts, they say! Well FUCK YOU! (i was not growing at that time)

gOT my first lens replacement (cataract surgery) right then and there in my right eye. Left eye was starting but wasnt bad enuf then. Got it done about seven years ago (after i quit a few years). So great. i got two new lenses. Threw out the glasses, you get to pick your prescription pretty much. Toolin thru life, hey, can't get cataracts now, can eye? haha. no, the BEST is yet to come.

One day the vision in my right eye, the first one i had done about ten years before or more, starts getting darker, like a curtain is coming down in front of it. Go to the eye doc, he's like your retina is falling off. Didn't say dont do anything, so i go to GreenDay and head bang. Curtain goes all the way down. i notice this so stop. By the time i get to the eye surgeon he's like "it's fallen almost all the way off". so they does what they can and laser beam the fucker back on. i got to keep my head pointed down so the air bubble stays pushing up on my retina for a month. Kinda tough to do. When they get done, things appear smaller in my right eye than in my left. That means i can NOT focus both of my eyes together at the same time. On top of that, i gotta small tiny speck of "pigment" that landed right in the middle of my optic nerve, that makes every straight line look slighly broken up, missing pieces.

When you getta lens replaced they take out a convex lens and put inna flat piece of plastic they laser beam in place. they stick it in a small slot and unfold it and tack it.

This leaves alot of empty space in front (and in back) of the lens. The jelly in your eye starts to want to be in that empty space in back of your new flat lens. As it migrates towards the lens, the little vien things in your eyeball, which are attached to the retina, start pulling on the retina as it moves, and eventually pulls your fucking retina off.

so yes, i can see the GREAT SIMILARITY between the brightness of these HID lights and the neon i used to make. it never hurt my eyes at any time to make (process) neon, but it does make me blind to look at these lights, just like the sun.

moral of the story if you couldnt figure it out before i even wrote this: Wear some good f'in eye protection or you will be fucked like me. Just waiting for my left retina to fall off.

oh i'm sorry, i meant to say you MIGHT BE FUCKED LIKE ME. nothing is definite! i'm sure there are TONS of people out there that bombarded more neon than me and didn't get squat!! (Results may vary.)

[rambo6372]

thanks, im investing in some shades asap.