Lamp Changes Require Eye Protection By Brenda Fishbaugh

Have you ever made a lamp change not wearing eye protection?  Jason Corveleyn, a former salon owner, did.  In his own words, “I was trouble-shooting a high pressure bed and it had several lamps out.  My naked eye was exposed to the raw high-pressure bulb without the lens over it. My eyes were exposed for a total of about 40 seconds.  It was the equivalent of getting flashed by a welding torch.  I didn’t notice anything at the time. I woke up at 2 a.m. with tears running down my face and incredible pain.  I couldn’t see anything.  My wife rushed me to the hospital. Luckily, it was a mild burn.  They gave me eye drops which reduced the pain.  My corneas were sunburned. It was a lesson learned.  Please let bed techs know that just because you don’t feel the damage happening,  you can be burning your corneas!”

 

Bruce Hickman, of Sun Tan Hut, in Rome, Georgia, also shared his similar experience.  “Back a few years ago I learned the hard way about protecting my eyes when changing lamps.  I was changing a lamp in our stand-up booth and left the lamps on while I did so. It only took a couple of minutes to change out the lamps and then I went about my day.  Later that night, my eyes felt like I had needles in them.  Burning, watering and so painful I couldn’t close them to sleep.  I had to sit in my living room all night in complete darkness because even the smallest amount of light caused severe pain. The next morning, I made my way to my optometrist for a good scolding and some unpleasant eye meds.  I learned my lesson on how important eye protection is eve for the smallest maintenance job on any tanning unit.”

 

Every distributor sells maintenance glasses for under $10. Maintenance glasses are wrap-around to protect ambient light and easily fit any size face.  For just $10, you can prevent eye burns from happening to your bed tech. A pair should be kept under the front counter for staff members checking reports that lamps are out in a bed, as well as for lamp changes.  In addition to blocking UV light, maintenance glasses also are safety glasses, which is important if a lamp were to shatter when taking a lamp out of a bed.