Be careful! (A warning picture)

[Dan Forman]

Ouch! hope it heals quickly. A little vitamin E oil (from a capsule) or E cream applied topically should help eliminate or reduce any scarring.

Dan

[T.J. Mahaffey]

FYI, even with the face shield, you're still supposed to wear safety glasses. The concern is that things'll bounce wierd and sneek in from the sides or bottom. Also, while the face shield is good enough to protect skin, it isn't tough enough to protect the more-fragile eyes.

Ah, yes, you're right. What I should have said is, "I'll ADD the protection of a face shield in the future." Not "replace" my glasses with a shield.

[Keith Christopher]

Here's wishing you a speedy recovery. So glad it wasn't worse.

[Bill Grumbine]

I'm honestly more concerned about the relentless ribbing I'm going to get at work.

TJ, I can feel for you there. It has been a very long time, but way back in 1975 I was treated to 25 stitches in my lower lip from a car accident. Split right through, 20 on the outside, five on the inside. I was still in high school at the time, and my first day back to school, we saw a WC Fields movie in English class. Talk about it only hurting when I laughed! I had to hold my face with my hands so I could watch the movie without breaking a stitch.

If anyone busts your chops at work (ouch!) tell them they should see the other guy!

I hope you heal up soon and get back to the shop.

Bill

[Tyler Howell]

Keep icing it TJ. 20 on 20 off for the first 48 hours. I know its a pain but your SO wants your lips back in kissing shape and the ice will spead the process .`No direct contact with the ice a piece of cloth in between is good insulation

[Brad Tallis]

T.J.-

Consider yourself lucky! I had a similar accident and didn't fair so well. I was turning an alabaster bowl (a type of stone) on my lathe. I wear a full-face mask (the AirMate, which I recommend) whenever I'm turning on the lathe.

Anyways, my wife came out to the shop to ask me a question. Usually, it's just a yes/no type of question, but this time, it involved some conversation. The AirMate was on, so I had a hard time hearing. So, I took off the mask, but I did not turn off the lathe. A few seconds later, I heard a loud bang and I remember feeling istanly nauseous.

A large chuck of the bowl had hit me in the side of the face. I was knocked "loopy" for awhile and when my wife asked if I was ok, I tried to talk. All I felt was my teeth moving "across" each other.

Anyways, a trip to the hospital and an xray showed that the stone had broken my jaw clean in half (that's why my teeth were moving across each other). I ended up having to go into surgery and having a titanium plate and a few screws inserted into my chin to hold my jaw together.

The good news was that I lost a lot of weight since I could only eat through a straw. The bad news is that I still have no feeling on the right side of my face due to nerve damage.

The worst part of it was that my wife witnessed the whole thing. I don't ever want that to happen again. If I had only taken the 1 second to turn off the lathe....

Like you said, it could have been a lot worse...

Brad

[Ken Shoemaker]

I've had accidents a number of times in the few months I've been woodworking ( read destroying some fine timber). It's a character builder to be sure.
I wish you fast healing ...

Ken S.

[T.J. Mahaffey]

T.J.-
Anyways, a trip to the hospital and an xray showed that the stone had broken my jaw clean in half (that's why my teeth were moving across each other). I ended up having to go into surgery and having a titanium plate and a few screws inserted into my chin to hold my jaw together.

Brad

Cripes! That's horrible. Glad you're ok. Man...