Can Currently Available Safety Eyewear Protect Welder's Eyes from Harmful Rays?

© 2016 Journal of ophthalmic and Vision research | published by Wolters KluWer medKnoW Dear Editor, All types of welding produce ultraviolet (UV), visible, and infrared (IR) radiation at damaging levels.[1] Photokeratoconjunctivitis (welder's flash), pingueculum, pterygium, corneal opacity, and pigmentary macular deposits are common eye disorders among welders.[2-4] Use of protective eyewear while welding helps reduce harmful effects of ultraviolet, visible, and infrared radiation.[5] There are several valid standards such as ANSI Z87.1[6] (American National Standard Institute) that specify allowable transmission values of the harmful rays through welding protectors. Twelve (three samples for each of the four types) available welding safety protectors were evaluated including three glasses and one pair of goggles of the following types: Type 1Uvex futura (Shade No. 4; Germany), Type 2Parsoptic (Shade No. 5; Iran), Type 3 (Shade No. 7; no identified company and country), and Type 4unnamed (Shade No. 8; China). Shade number is the degree of the darkness of the filters. All of the types were made from plastic. They were collected randomly from the Iranian central market for industrial safety clothes and glasses. This study was conducted in the laboratoryOphthalmic Lenses Verification Center (O.L.V.C.R)-of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, a collaborating laboratory of Iranian National Standard Organization (INSO). Using SPSS software, one-sample T test was performed to establish whether a statistically significant difference existed between the standard criteria and UV (far and near), blue light, and IR spectra means for each type of welding protectors (α=0.05). After providing absolute transmittance values of each type, we checked the average transmittance values with relative parts of the standard. We have provided a single transmission graph for all of the types evaluated in this study [Figure 1]. Unnamed (T3) welding glasses showed the least transmittance of far UV (0.001%) and Parsoptic (T2) had the highest transmittance (0.003%). Uvex (T1) and Chinese goggles (T4) had the same value of transmittance (0.002%). All of the tested protectors transmitted lower than the maximum allowable value mentioned in the standard (P < 0.001). In the near UV region, T4 welding goggles showed the least transmittance of near UV (0.002%) while T2 had the highest transmission (0.004%). T1 and T3 were at the same level transmission (0.003%). All of the tested protectors transmitted lower than the maximum allowable value of the standard (P < 0.001). T1 had the highest transmission value (0.499%) of blue light. After that, T2, T3, and T4 had transmission values of (0.273%), (0.029%), and (0.008%), respectively. According to the standard,[6] all of the tested protectors transmitted lower than the maximum allowable value of the standard (P < 0.001). In the IR waveband region, T3 had the highest value (3.220%) while T1 had the least value (0.765%). T2 and T4 showed transmittance of (2.605%) and (1.683%), respectively. T1 transmitted lower than the maximum Can Currently Available Safety Eyewear Protect Welder’s Eyes from Harmful Rays?