Vocchemist

Thank you for the detailed response. The reason I'm bringing it up here rather via a doctor is because I only had mild irritation to the affected eye, if anything at all. And I was pretty certain any urgent care doctor would simply tell me there was nothing they could do outside of eye drops for irritation. I was thinking that only other chemists would have some knowledge about hazards of exposure based on the low concentrations of those specific organic compounds. Or someone might have had a similar experience happen to them. If I do see a doctor it's out of my own pocket because my work has already brushed it under the rug and specialists can cost a small fortune. Well, anyways. I guess I'll keep an eye (pun intended) on the situation and hopefully nothing happens. I just worry about absorption of some of the carcinogens rather than physical damage to the eye. But I suppose at 20 ppm and for a one time thing I'm likely in the clear. This isn't the only safety concern I've had working here; there have been numerous. I'm evaluation my future working at this lab........

Soooo, I brought it up with my supervisors; and everything I predicted would happen, happened. At first it was shrugged off and they said it would be fine (low concentration...etc), and that it was unlikely that anything got through my safety glasses to begin with. Back to square one which is what brought me here. And unfortunately we don't even have splash goggles or face shields. I work in a volatiles department of a larger env. analysis company in a separate building from our wet chemistry rooms; hence much lower protection required. Sorry to be annoying, I feel like I either take safety way out of proportion compared to my co-workers, or just worry to much (which I feel is a good thing :), maybe wrong profession though haha). Anyways, based on the fact that seeing a doctor isn't an option, and I've got minimal eye irritation, have flushed my eye, do you think that I have anything to worry about? As far as long term eye damage or VOC's absorbed through my eye? Considering the 20 ug/ml concentration? At what concentration?

Thank you for the responses. I was using all appropriate safety precautions as I always do. We aren't required to wear full PPE at my lab; I was using nitrile gloves and safety glasses (not the full splash glasses used in true organic synthesis labs). I'm just angry that this stuff happens to me because I'm beyond careful. I was using a half-fume hood without a full sash that is used for lower concentration stuff like this. Of course somehow when I was tapping an air buble out of a syringe a drop flicked upwards at an awkward angle and went underneath my glasses..... I will bring this up with my supervisors; the reason I wasn't originally going too is because they usually shrug off stuff like this and tell me I'll be fine. Not exactly a safety fostering environment over here. Another reason I'm upset. Anyways, my question was more on the science side of it rather than protocol. Is that low of a concentration (20 ug/ml) even enough to be warranted a risk?

EDIT: Accidentally double posted this question. See the original. Not sure how to delete threads. Thanks!

I work in a volatile organic compound lab (environmental analysis). Today while preparing a solution I accidentally wound up flicking a small drop of a chemical mix into my eye. I was flicking a 100 ul syringe containing 25 ul of a "super mix" of 70+ common volatile organic compounds (toluene, benzene, chloromethane, chloroform...etc) at a concentration of 20 ug/ml, or 20 ppm, or .002%. Somehow after flicking the syringe a drop of no more than .01-0.05 ml found it's way under my safety glasses and into my eye. Within a minute I flushed my eye for a few minutes and noticed only slight irritation; which might have just been from the water flush. What I'm worried about is long term effects, either damage to my eye, or adsorption of any of those compounds in my eye and into my blood. The concentration was low but I'm very concerned about exposure to these. Is there any further steps I should take? How easy is it for chemicals to absorb through your eye? Or is the concentration too low to be of a concern? Thank you, I will provide additional information if needed. I hope I'm not being to paranoid for nothing but I take safety very seriously and don't want to bring this up at work.