Any1 got U-hairs in eyes

[Snipes]

It is one of my biggest worries. What should i or anyone else do if we get U-hairs in our eye(s)?

 

[Heartfang]

You should contact a physician IMMEDIATLY. It could lead to severe retinal damage or even blindness.

 

[edesign]

aye...use the search function available on this forum (top right kind of...small bold black lettered link). I think becca had this problem, i know i read a thread involving somebody on this forum and u-hairs in their eyes. In "The Tarantula Keeper's Guide(book?)" iirc, it also recommends getting medical attention IMMEDIATELY. This is not something to take casually and think you can shrug it off on your own...as mentioned, permanent damage can occur.

 

[Kid Dragon]

It is one of my biggest worries. What should i or anyone else do if we get U-hairs in our eye(s)?

Don't get them in your eyes, as the doctor can't do much! In the news last year, a boy got G. rosea setae in his eye and it caused major complications. They will stay in and hurt. They can't be removed with any efficiency.

 

[Snipes]

thanks so much ...for confirming my fear :evil: I plan on using goggles. Shouldnt be a problem since i live at a pool. People leave them here all the time and they are ours if they r there for 2 months

 

[Kid Dragon]

thanks so much ...for confirming my fear :evil: I plan on using goggles. Shouldnt be a problem since i live at a pool. People leave them here all the time and they are ours if they r there for 2 months

I've never worn goggles, but i have kept Ts away from my face, and I wash my hands well after handling them or anything in their enclosure. I wear contacts, so my fingers eventually end up in my eyes, si I have to be careful.

 

[edesign]

just keep your face away from the tank and you should be ok (and don't handle them)...or just avoid species that are known to be avid hair-kickers.

 

[Elizabeth]

Don't get them in your eyes, as the doctor can't do much! In the news last year, a boy got G. rosea setae in his eye and it caused major complications. They will stay in and hurt. They can't be removed with any efficiency.

Hey! Hey! Slow down. Read the article again. You're talking BS here. Something can be done, but it has to be done fairly soon after getting hairs in they eyes. The reason that kid has permanent damage was that by the time he saw a competent person, about half the urticating hairs were worked in too far to remove and they were causing damage already.

Prevention: wash hands well after T handling or messing with substrate or any other T activities that could get hairs on your hand.

It gets in your eyes anyway? Search for appropriate threads and get to a competent doctor asap. Bring the needed info with you to help the doctor be his or her most competent!


Goggles? OK, but be ready to wash the goggles, too, if a T flicks hairs and you have those down near his butt. I hope no one grabs T-hairy goggles in innocence as they go for a swim, as getting those hairs in and not treating them correctly is very serious!

Added: Here's the article (and source), copied from another thread:



***

The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.)
July 24, 2004

A HAIRY SITUATION
A BEACH TEEN'S RUN-IN WITH A PET TARANTULA DIDN'T SEEM SCARY THEN, BUT THE RESULTING MEDICAL ODYSSEY HAS LEFT HIM SHAKEN

By DENISE WATSON BATTS

VIRGINIA BEACH -- Josh Rice stood near the back door and watched his dogs play outside.

On this rare day, he didn't need to shield his eye from the sun's stabbing rays. Even the swelling around the eye has subsided some, and the white of the eye had softened from blood red to dull pink.

Life is still a blur when he peers through his left eye. Josh and his doctors are hopeful that his sight will return, that he'll be able to read well with both eyes, roller blade like other 15-year-old boys, hang out in his Windsor Woods neighborhood and not chance a killer headache.

But the past seven months have been everything but normal for Josh.

Ever since that day he played with the neighbor's pet.

/ In January, Josh went to a friend's house. Three others were there, including the critter on the bed - a Chilean rose tarantula .

He didn't realize that people kept tarantulas as pets, but he wasn't afraid of it. His mother , Barbara Gipson , works as wildlife coordinator at the Virginia Beach SPCA and has rescued all types of animals; Josh doesn't fear wildlife. He picked it up, held it briefly in his hand. Its legs covered his palm.

He thought it was pretty cool.

A little later as he walked home, Josh felt a tingle underneath his eye and could feel a ridge of small bumps. He called his mother , told her about the tarantula and said he thought he might be allergic. She told him to take Benadryl . He did.

Days passed, and his eye began to hurt and redden. He checked with the pet owner and learned no one else had problems with the spider.

Another friend offered Josh what he'd read about tarantulas: To ward off predators, some will rub their bellies to release irritating hairs. Josh said he didn't remember the tarantula doing anything strange when he held him.

He and his family studied the ways of the arachnids as they visited doctors and ophthalmologists. They mentioned the hairs, but doctors didn't see anything foreign in his eye.

Josh now complained of headaches and nausea. Sunlight burned. Vision in his left eye, the weaker of the two, clouded. He was missing school, and when he did make it through the day, he'd come home and bury his head in a pillow. His grades were falling.

/ By mid-February, Josh visited another ophthalmologist and mentioned the tarantula. With a slit lamp, the doctor peered into his eye. There they were: about 40 thin, dark hairs .

They are the perfect weapons, zoologists say. Shaped like bottle brushes, the hairs are barbed and designed to dig themselves into flesh and torment.

Josh began a regimen of daily eye drops and doctor's visits every two weeks to have the hairs extracted. About 20 were pulled , Josh's mother said. But the rest are buried too deep in his cornea.

His eye was getting worse. By late June , the family was referred to The Wilmer Eye Institute at The John Hopkins School of Medicine.

On July 12 , Josh met Dr. J.P. Dunn , an associate professor of ophthalmology , who'd worked on another tarantula-related case. Dunn searched medical literature and found fewer than 20 cases related to tarantulas.

Josh's was serious.

Tarantula hairs usually cause problems in the front of the eye, but Josh's eye is inflamed throughout, a condition called uveitis. It's one of the leading causes of blindness. The gel in the back half of the eye is usually clear, but Josh's is cloudy.

Normally, light is focused sharply on the retina, but because of the haziness, it's now being focused in all directions.

Dunn said it's like looking through a blizzard.

"We can't even see the back of his eye," Dunn said. "He can barely see the big E on the eye chart."

He said that he's not sure why Josh's case is so severe but that the number and type of hairs are factors.

Samuel D. Marshall, assistant professor of biology at Hiram College in Ohio, has studied tarantulas for more than 20 years. While most tarantulas grow harmless hairs, he said Chilean tarantulas carry some of the most intensely irritating ones.

Chilean tarantulas are docile creatures and often are marketed as pets. Ironically, Marshall said, the timid spiders tend to have the most potent defensive fibers.

Marshall said that many people, including himself, can get a skin rash on contact but that eye injuries are rare. The hairs aren't shot like projectiles, Marshall said, but float like smoke. They often can't make it into the eye.

Dunn said the only treatment for uveitis carries its own risks: High doses of prednisone pills and prednisolone acetate drops that, if taken long-term, can cause diabetes, high blood pressure, mood swings, growth suppression and bone thinning.

Long-term use is considered three months or more. Josh is expected to be on the steroids for at least six months. Dunn said he hopes to taper off the dosage during treatment. Over time, the remaining hairs will become less irritating, he said.

While vision usually is restored , Dunn said there are some cases in which there is permanent eye damage.

/ For now, Josh wakes up each morning, slowly opens his left eye, pops in one eye drop each minute for five minutes and hopes it's a day with less pain than the one before. He wears an eye patch outdoors most days, and he takes his pills with orange juice fortified with vitamin D and calcium tablets to ward off the steroids' effects. Josh continues his bi weekly trips to the ophthalmologist and expects to see Dunn once or twice more.

Medical staff now call him "Tarantula boy " or "Spider-boy." Josh can laugh about it, a little.

His mother said she's learned more than she's ever wanted to know about retinas, uveitis and tarantula behavior. She hates that the spiders are becoming popular pets and are being sold probably without little warning.

Josh still doesn't fear wildlings. The family has a ferret, exotic birds, cats, dogs - animals his mom has taken in. But he has developed a greater respect for the unknown.

"I don't ever think I'll touch a spider again, " he said.

 

[edesign]

here's becca's story:

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=39528&highlight=happy+face

 

[Snipes]

pretty sure that if i label them as "tarantula goggles" no one will touch them. Besides, we live in a small apartment above the pool, so the public wont have access to them. Unless of course someone comes that i really hate :evil: . just kidding of course. I would feel very safe with goggles.

 

[Snipes]

thanks very much. I already read it. Ugg. If there is one thing i cant stand, its things in my eyes. I suppose if it happens i can get an eye patch for school. If i get it in both eyes, it will be fun at school. Especially in sign language class

 

[Ultimate Instar]

I was washing out my M. robustum's water dish and accidentally splashed some water in my eye. After a few minutes, my eye started itching and THEN began to hurt quite a bit. The next day I went to an ophthalmologist who couldn't see any hairs but it certainly hurt quite a bit so there was something there. I recall reading that the hairs may be too small for ophthalmologists to visualize under standard magnification. Anyway, after about a week, the pain went away and I don't have any vision problems now. I do have a permanently enlarged capillary where I suspect the hair was lodged but it's off to the side so it doesn't interfere with my field of vision.

Karen N.

 

[Windchaser]

It is definitely best to avoid the problem, but don't get overly paranoid about it. If it should happen, seek medical attention ASAP. However, make sure you wash your hands and arms very well after any exposure. This will minimize your chances of any problems. BTW, the latest ATS Forum magazie has a great article about this.

 

[becca81]

Yeah, it doesn't feel too good. I happened to have some eye wash at the house and that helped a lot. It wouldn't be bad idea (for anyone) to keep some eye wash and an eye wash bottle at home just in case.

 

[Jmadson13]

I was once very careless after a routine handling and tank cleaning of my T. blondi. My eye itched and I scratched it It probably bugged the hell out of me for 72 hrs or so.

 

[Stan Schultz]

One and All -

Marguerite and I have been keeping tarantulas in varying numbers since February, 1968. In all those years we’ve *NEVER* had the urticating setae in our eyes. We have, however, had them on our face and neck on occasion and all over our arms and hands. In addition, you almost never hear anyone on these forums complaining of getting the setae in their eyes. Judging from these two phenomena alone we can safely state that getting the setae in your eyes is a very rare event and usually the result of you placing them there by wiping your eye with a contaminated hand.

The solution to the problem is obvious: Don’t touch your face or eyes during or after dealing with a tarantula or any appointments in its cage until you have a chance to wash your hands.

But what happens if you do get the setae in your eye? First, cover your eye with something that will prevent you from further touching or rubbing it. An eye patch or even a big bandaid might work. Then get someone to immediately drive you to the nearest emergency clinic. If you have a copy of the [WARNING: SELF SERVING SALES PITCH INCOMING!] Tarantula Keeper’s Guide or Sam Marshall’s Tarantulas and Other Arachnids, take them with you for added evidence.

If the emergency doctor seems not to be sure of what to do you need to urge him (or her) to put something in the eye to reduce the irritation and inflamation. It tuns out that the irritation is largely due to irritating chemicals leaching out of the setae, so it’s a strong chemical/allergic response in addition to merely a mechanical response to having something in your eye.

As soon as something is being done to reduce the discomfort (Now *THAT’S* an understatement!), the doc should make every effort to get you in to see an ophthalmologist on an emergency basis, ASAP. There are a number of things that can be done by the ophthalmologist to help the condition depending on where the setae are lodged, how many there are, how far they’ve dug in and how badly you’re reacting.

Even under the best of circumstances you're going to suffer, probably a lot and probably for weeks or months. Try very hard to not let it happen in the first place.

Re: the person who got water from a water dish in their eye - No setae were seen by the ophthalmologist, so it was almost surely a matter of the irritating chemicals dissolving in the water with the setae sinking to the bottom, out of the way, that caused the irritation. The fact that the irritation went away in a very few days tends to support that hypothesis. Had you really gotten the setae in your eyes, it might have taken weeks to months for your eye to recover.

Few enthusiasts and virtually all non-arachnophiles fully understand that the biggest danger with keeping tarantulas is not their bite, as most people expect. We all realize that they are capable of biting and we have a fairly good idea of which are prone to bite, which have the more potent bites and how to avoid being bitten. In fact, it’s those !@#$%! setae that drive us nuts. And it’s those !@#$%! setae that we must be extremely careful about not getting into our eyes. That truly is the greatest danger associated with keeping tarantulas.

Whoda thunk?