Turn Your Hydration Bladder Into an Eye Wash

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

Last week I mentioned that an eye wash adapter could be modified to work on a hydration bladder.

This week I'm going to show you how and give you a shopping list. If you've followed my instructions on how to make an inline filter for your drinking tube, then you probably already have everything you will need.

You Will Need

1. One Mazama MagmaFlow Quick Disconnect Coupler. They are currently out of stock at the moment, but if you like you can get a 2-pack for $7.99 on Amazon. 
• You can use other quick disconnect brands, but I prefer this because they're the only one I've seen which automatically shuts off the tube when you disconnect the pieces, preventing the water in your hydration bladder from going everywhere and making a mess.  
2. One male plug. Of course, if you buy the 2-pack listed above then you already have this. 
3. One piece of hydration tube, approximately 1.5 to 2" long. The Sawyer Fast Fill Adapter Pack comes with a tube that long and two male plugs, along with a single female plug. 
4. One eyewash adapter. 

Installation

1. Make sure your hydration bladder is empty. 
2. Cut the tube roughly 2" below the bite valve. 
3. Insert the female end of the Mazama Coupler in the tube closest to the reservoir and the male end in the tube attached to the bite valve. 
4. Place another male plug onto the spare piece of hydration tube. Rest assured, a Sawyer plug will work with Mazama. 
5. Place the other end of the tube onto the nipple sticking out from the bottom of the eyewash adapter. 

When all is done, it should look like this:

Place the eyewash adapter into a Ziplock bag to keep it clean and store it with the rest of your quick-access first aid gear. 

To Use It

1. Remove bite valve
2. Attack eye wash adapter
3. Hold cup to eye
4. Compress hydration bladder

When you're done you'll need to find more water for your hydration bladder, but you'd have the same dilemma if you used a water bottle. Plus, your eyesight is more important than water; you can go 3 days without water, but if you cannot see your survival chances drop substantially. 

Eye Washing Made Easy

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

As a follow-up to the post Chaplain Tim made yesterday about the importance of being able to wash irritants out of your eyes, here is a handy little device that belongs in every prepper's bug-out bag and first aid kit. 

An Eye Wash adapter like the one shown below will screw onto any standard 500mL plastic water bottle and turns that bottle into a portable eye washing station. A flexible tube reaches to the bottom of the bottle, so all you need to do is squeeze the bottle to release two streams of water into your eye. You can only wash out one eye at a time, but this is a sacrifice made in the name of portability, although I suppose you could carry two along with two bottles and double dose as needed. 

To make mine more useful, I actually bundled the eye wash adapter with an unopened bottle of water inside a large ziploc bag for fast access and to prevent contamination of the eye cup. 

You can also adapt it to work with a hydration bladder if your drinking tube has a quick disconnect valve. Look to my post Hydration Tube Inline Hijinks for more information. 

Here is a video of it being used to wash pepper spray out of someone's eyes:

 

This eyewash adapter weighs just 2.4 ounces and costs $11.50 at Amazon with Prime shipping. Lightweight, inexpensive and essential, it deserves a place in your preps. 

Eye Washing

We've mentioned eye washing a few times over the years; the most recent one I found in a quick search (use the search box in the upper left corner) was almost 5 years ago. Bottles of commercially available eyewash aren't very expensive, and in my opinion should be part of every first aid kit. As always, seek professional medical assistance as soon as you can.

Eye washing is simply rinsing foreign matter out of your eyes. Our normal production of tears does a fair job of this on a daily basis, but sometimes we get into stuff that is too much for tears alone to handle.

The ideal eye wash is going to be, in order of importance:

• Sterile: You don't want to introduce bacteria into irritated eyes.
• pH Neutral: This is to prevent further irritation.
• Comfortable Temperature: Eyes are sensitive, 60-100° F is the range you'll be using.
• Isotonic: This means it has a salt content similar to your normal tears.
• Large enough: Depending on what you're washing out, you may need quite a bit.

If you have access to sterile saline solution from a medical supply this is an ideal eye wash, but we often don't have what we want, so we have to improvise.

• Clean tap water will work and is the most commonly found form of eyewash. Dozens of faucet attachments are on the market that will convert a common sink into an emergency eyewash station, most of the time without affecting the normal use of the faucet.
• Bottled water is a good choice and there are several replacement caps that make a water bottle more efficient for washing eyes.
• For kitchen emergencies (pepper in the eyes is extremely uncomfortable), milk or weak tea will work. Milk must be checked for freshness to prevent infection, and straight out of the icebox it will be a bit cold, but it works.
• Homemade saline solution is simply distilled water with a little table salt (non-iodized) added. About ½ teaspoon per cup or 8 teaspoons per gallon will make an isotonic solution.

Once you have your liquid, you need to figure out how to use it.

• Eye cups fit over the eye and hold the liquid close to the eye, reducing the amount of liquid required. Most of the bottled eye wash kits will have some form of cup attached.
• Immersion: Simply sticking your face in a bowl of water works. If you don't have a bowl handy, cupping your hands and sticking your face into them works. Open your eyes and slowly rotate them to get the water into the folds of your eyelids. Swimming pools and other sources of open water will work in an emergency, but you start to lose some of the things like sterility and pH that we want.
• Flowing water: Commercial eye wash stations will be connected to a water supply that provides plenty of water. Open your eyes and let the flowing water rinse them. Not pleasant, but effective.
• Pouring: If you have a container without an eye cup, you'll have to tilt your head back and pour the liquid into your eyes. Your natural instinct will be to close your eyes when something hits them, so you may have to use one hand to keep the eyelids open while pouring with the other.

Now that you have started to wash your eyes, how do you know when to stop? The general recommended time for generic chemical is 15 minutes, and you'll see that on a lot of labels. Something is always better than nothing, so rinse as long as you can with what you have available. As long as you're using clean, pH-neutral solutions, you can't wash too much, so err on the side of caution and keep rinsing. 

One of the guidelines I found suggests the following times:

• Minor irritants: 5 minutes
• Mild to moderate irritants: 20 minutes
• Non-corrosive chemicals: 20 minutes
• Corrosive chemicals: 60 minutes

I work in dusty environments a lot, so I wash my face and eyes quite often, Dirt and normal dust are inconvenient, salts are irritating, and some of the industrial chemical are just plain dangerous. My eyes are important, so I keep water on hand to wash them out when needed.

Protection Against Laser Blindness

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

It is becoming increasingly common among certain disruptive groups to use laser pointers as blinding instruments. This is a purpose for which lasers were never designed, but are nevertheless well suited: not only will a laser flash across the eyes dazzle the victim, leaving them temporarily blind and therefore unable to defend themselves, but it can also lead to permanent eye injury and even blindness. 

According to this laser safety factsheet from Iowa University, any laser with an output of at least one milliwatt (1 mW) can cause permanent eye injury. I will not link to it, but it is possible to buy a 300 mW laser online for under $50. Given that many preppers live in the city or other urbanized areas and that unrest in this country is at an all-time high, I believe it would be prudent for some of our readers to take into account the possibility of being struck, either accidentally or deliberately, by a blinding laser. 

Some Science

While lasers come in all colors, green lasers are most commonly used for this purpose due to the human eye's specific sensitivity to that wavelength, likely a genetic heritage from our hunter-gatherer days where being able to differentiate between shades of green helped early humans tell the difference between edible and inedible plants. (Also, the Sun's central wavelength is in the green portion of the spectrum, which likely influences the whole matter.) As such, a green laser will inflict greater damage on our eyes than a red or blue laser of the same milliwattage. 

https://usaphc.amedd.army.mil/PHC%20Resource%20Library/Laser%20Pointer%20FS_24-031-0617.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_pointer#Colors_and_wavelengths

Eye Protection

Fortunately, it is possible to defend against laser dazzle and eye damage through the use of protective lenses. These lenses will not provide 100% protection against lasers, because lasers are amplified and collimated visible light; any lens which protects 100% against visible light would necessarily be 100% opaque and therefore render you blind by different means. 

Furthermore, effective protection will not come cheaply; if you are not buying certified protective lenses with a known optical density and visible light transmission, you may end up buying colored sunglasses. 

Optical Density (OD) is a measure of un-attenuated laser energy that will pass through a filter. Attenuation is the absorption or scattering effect of the lenses. Therefore the higher the OD, the smaller the amount of high-energy laser light passing through the lens.

Information from https://noirlaser.com/laser-standards

Visible Light Transmission measures how much non-laser light passes through the lenses. While you obviously need light passing through a lens in order to see, this measurement is also useful if you intend to wear protective lenses at night, when you will need a higher VLT than during the day. 

Information from https://www.opticnerve.com/pages/visible-light-transmission-vlt

Armed with this knowledge, let's take a look at a certified pair of protective laser strike glasses, the Model 33 from Phillips Safety Products.

Optical Density:

• Over 7 for wavelengths between 190nm and 400nm, which means it highly attenuates the ultraviolet spectrum. 
• Violet pointers emit between 405nm and 445nm, for which the OD starts at 7 but rapidly drops off to 2 (reducing laser dazzle by 99%). 
• Blue pointers emit from 450-488nm, so OD against blue is 2 to perhaps 0.5, reducing dazzle from anywhere between 90% and 50%. 
• Green pointers emit between 515 and 532 nm, and these glasses are rated over OD 2 for that, reducing dazzle by 99%. 
• OD zero for anything in the yellow, orange, red, or infrared spectrum. 

Visible Light Transmission: 33%, meaning that these have a tint equal to regular sunglasses. 

Conclusion: Good protection against violet and green lasers; adequate to poor against blue; no protection against red lasers. I base this conclusion on the fact that 99% attenuation against a 300mW green laser still leaves 3mW of laser energy reaching your eyes, which can still cause injury. 

An OD 3 would be preferable, as that would reduce the laser energy to 0.3 mW, well below the threshold of injury. Unfortunately, I cannot find any certified lenses of OD 3; for example, these glasses have an OD 4 and VLT of 55%, but the low price and lack of visible certification made me think they were too good to be true. A quick chat with their online customer service confirmed it. 

If you happen to come across any certified OD 3 glasses in the 520-532nm range, preferably with a VLT of 50% or more, please let me know so that I can buy them. Until then, I guess I'll have to spend $150 for OD 2. That's expensive, I know, but my vision (and potentially my life) is worth that much. 

Through a Lens, Clearly

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

According to the Vision Council of America, approximately 75% of adults use some sort of vision correction. If you're one of those people (and statistically you probably are), you need backup glasses for your bug-out bag.

For some of us, spare glasses are a matter of life or death. Without my glasses, I cannot see the words on my opthamologist's eye chart. Please note:  I did not say I couldn't read them, I said I could not see them; the eye chart is simply a greyish blur to me. My uncorrected vision is so bad that in a survival situation, I cannot discern threats past 10, maybe 12 feet.

If you're lucky, you only need glasses for up-close work. That's fine for macro-scale survival, but terrible if you're trying to perform detail-oriented tasks such as starting a fire, or determining if berries are poisonous or not, or even just reading your survival manual.

The point is, you need spare glasses for your bug-out preps. You might be able to get away with putting your old glasses into your bag when you get new ones if your prescription didn't change much and your lenses are in good condition; however, I don't have that luxury. I've been using the same frames since 2003, and the arms are corroding from where they touch the skin on my temples. Meanwhile, the lenses which I've had for 3-4 years are scratched and the anti-glare coating is flaking off. Additionally, my left eye has degraded such that I new need prisms in the lens to correct my astigmatism.

In short, not only do I need new glasses but I also need new backup glasses too. However, buying glasses without vision insurance is expensive. So how does a prepper on a thin budget (like me) make do?

Get Your Prescription in Writing
A regular eye exam is surprisingly affordable even without insurance, usually between $30 and $40. Mine was just a bit over $40 but included pupil dilation, checks for glaucoma and cataracts, and determining that I needed prisms.

Once that was done, I asked for my prescription in writing, telling the doctor that I needed it in case I had to evacuate for a hurricane and his records were lost in the disaster. My doctor had no problem with this; after all, I paid him for the results and so I was entitled to the records.

Don't Buy the Lenses and Frames at the Office
Every single ophthalmologist that I've visited has been paired with an eyeglass store of some sort. While I admit that their selections are stylish, be aware that you have other options. Other less expensive options.

It may be worth it, however, to try on various frames to see what you like and what you don't like. You also may need to have your pupil distance measured so that the lenses have the proper focal point, or perhaps your old lenses have an odd base curve. If this is the case, make note of this on your prescription.

Select your Frames Online
Now that you know what you want, go online and look for frames. Zenni Optical has been an open secret among preppers for years, with frames starting as low as $6.95 and fashionable choices going up to as much as -- brace yourselves -- $35.

Why are they so much less? Because you aren't paying for brand names. What you need to realize is that eyeglasses are treated as fashion and thus command higher prices based upon the designer. For example, frames with Ralph Lauren's Polo branding will cost more than those without his name on them.

Even if you decide to buy a set of fashionable frames, you don't need to pay the same price for your backups. Think of them as the eyeglass version of a donut spare tire.

Buy your Lenses Online
Now that you know what style frames you want, you know what shape lenses to get. This is where the bulk of your money goes when buying glasses at a store, and the same holds true here, but in much smaller amounts.

There are many online lens stores, but I like Replacement Lens Express for two reasons. First, it puts the prices on its homepage so you can see at a glance what the lenses will cost you  (a necessity if you have a high-power or complex prescription). Second (and again, right there on the front page), it says "We specialize in fitting new eyeglass lenses into your existing frames," which means you don't have to compromise the frames you want in order to get the lenses you need. The company also has a great reputation online.


Now that I have my prescription, it's time for me to go shopping for glasses: a pair for my face, a pair for my GHB, and a pair for my BOB. I may not be able to get all three right away, but in time I'll have a full set for Just In Case.

Seeing Clearly

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Follow along as I build a long term plan via Prudent Prepping.

My job takes me to a different Big Box store every day, and if you pay attention, the only thing well stocked in every department is dust. With the many movements of pallets stacked high with concrete, units of drywall and other bulk materials, let alone sawdust from the lumber department, the potential of getting something in my eyes is there every day. Fortunately for me, I've never had to resort to one of the eyewash stations located around the stores, but I have washed my eyes out in the Men's Room on occasion.

I wear glasses, not contacts, so I do have some protection from things flying or rebounding into my eyes but dust is another matter. Moving boxes from upper shelves and 'diving' between displays to retrieve fallen product stirs up enough crud to coat my glasses quickly. I've neglected to add something for soothing my eyes to my EDC and GHB First Aid kits for a long time, but no longer.

SYSTANE ULTRA LUBRICANT EYE DROPS

From the website:

• Offers the relief you need to help get you through your day
• Delivers soothing comfort so your eyes feel moist and refreshed longer
• Uses the original formulation that made the SYSTANE Family of Products the #1 Doctor Recommended brand for dry eye relief

I use these when my eyes get irritated, even if Dry Eye is not a problem I deal with. I also have to plan for the potential need to use these in a real disaster, to clear my (or others') eyes.

What I really like is the drops are in single-use tubes, so there is little chance of the product evaporating out of a bottle or becoming contaminated all at once.

Lack of preservatives is another thing that is not high on my list, since I don't use this regularly or wear contacts. One point in my favor is the fact that the tubes make it very easy to put the drops in, because I have always been very sensitive with anything or anyone getting close to my eyes. (I'm so bad it takes the Optometrist 3-4 tries to get a good glaucoma reading.)

What's more, these tubes take up very little space in my EDC first aid kit. I've mentioned that I have a bad habit of packing too much and carrying too much gear. With the small size of the tubes, 4 or 5 take up no more room than several alcohol wipe packets or a stack of band-aids.

The Takeaway

• Personal Protection equipment won't keep all things out of my eyes.
• I need to be prepared for getting crud out of my eyes on the job, as well in an emergency.

The Recap

• Systane Ultra Lubricant Eye Drops: $24.99 from Amazon with Prime. I purchased the box at home locally and I'm certain it cost more than Amazon.

If you plan on buying anything through Amazon, please consider using our referral link. When you do, a portion of the sale comes back here to help keep this site running!

If you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!

NOTE: All items tested were purchased by me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.

Prudent Prepping: Medical Check-Up

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Now we concentrate  on what to do in, and how to plan for, the long term via Prudent Prepping.

Earlier this year, I mentioned that  I wear glasses and discussed what I've done to maintain them. What I glossed over was the quality of my vision and how stable it is. A change occurred about 5 years ago, and again recently, when I started seeing 'floaters' in my vision.

Many people see faint objects or translucent cloud-like patches that seem to move around in their line of sight. Five years ago I had a large blockage in one eye that I could move around by twitching my head or rolling my eyes. I went to my Optometrist and was diagnosed as having Posterior Vitreous Detachment, explained quite nicely here. Luckily for me, that was all it was; one of the rare symptoms that can follow PVD is damage to the retina, or even more rarely, retinal detachment.

Symptoms of PVD and retina damage include:

• Flashes of light (photopsia) 
• A sudden dramatic increase in the number of floaters
• A ring of floaters or hairs just to the temporal side of the central vision

As a posterior vitreous detachment proceeds, adherent vitreous membrane may pull on the retina. While there are no pain fibers in the retina, vitreous traction may stimulate the retina, with resultant flashes that can look like a perfect circle.

If a retinal vessel is torn, the leakage of blood into the vitreous cavity is often perceived as a "shower" of floaters. Retinal vessels may tear in association with a retinal tear, or occasionally without the retina being torn.

I started to see flashes of light and an increase of floaters this week -- not good. So, with the overlap of symptoms of a serious condition that could damage my eyesight and a relatively minor annoyance, I went to see my doctor.

The result was the same as the last one: no retina damage, but I have a follow-up appointment scheduled for two months from now, just to make certain there is no continuing problem. This is yet another reminder for me, and the rest of us, not to neglect what seems to be 'minor' ailments. There is just no telling what could turn out to be a serious problem.

Like this guy:



The Takeaway
Take care of yourself, so you are then able to care for others.

Recap

• One eye exam, 100% out of pocket. (You don't want to know. Really.)
• Nothing else was purchased this week -- and not much will be for the balance of the month.

As always, if you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!

Prudent Prepping: Seeing is... Seeing

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Now we concentrate  on what to do in, and how to plan for, the long term via Prudent Prepping.

Knowledge (and Vision) is Good

As you can see in my photo, I wear glasses. I first wore glasses when I was 27 and then only for distance. These days I still need glasses for distance, and in addition I use "cheaters" for very close work or reading extremely small type. I buy my magnifiers from Sam's Club in a five pack for around $25, with the equivalent available from Amazon for nearly the same price after shipping is factored. Over the years I've had bent frames and scratched or broken lenses on my normal glasses which were covered in my vision insurance. What was not covered are the tiny screws which, when lost, allow the ear piece to fall off or have the lens fall out of the frame. This always happened either after hours or far away from civilization, which is why I bought 2 of these repair kits from CVS.            

What I really like about this particular kit is the assorted screws ( 2 each metric and imperial standard) and the enclosed magnifying lens which you place on the screwdriver shaft before you attempt to install these very tiny screws. I do not have a camera able to take pictures of the tool in use, but let me say the magnifying lens is a terrific boost to my eyesight, right where it is needed most: at the end of the screwdriver!

The screws in the kit are four of the most common sizes used in glasses:

• 1.4mm and 1.6mm with a flat head
• #5 and #7 barrel screws with a dome head

These are held in the hollow handle of the screwdriver, along with a very small piece of flexible tubing to be used as a screw keeper. The lens is placed on the shaft, followed by the tubing, and then the proper screw is set on the driver tip. Holding the screw on the tip with a finger, the 'keeper' tubing is then pushed down the shaft, over the screw head, which prevents the screw from falling off the driver tip. I recommend storing  the tubing on the shaft and not putting it back into the handle since it is so small.

Other Items

Only one other thing to be added to the stores this week: Uncle Bill's Sliver Gripper tweezers. I originally purchased a set of these tweezers 20+ years ago and kept them in my sales bag First Aid box. They had a very fine and sharp point to easily dig the finest splinter out of your skin. About 4-5 years ago they disappeared, and I could not recall where I found them until they showed up on one of those 'Others also purchased' graphics on Amazon. I'm a bit afraid to see what they look like in comparison to the originals, since several reviewers ding the current version with only one star. It seems the tips are not as fine as the original version and possibly not as high quality steel is used currently. If the new version is anything like the original, I will purchase several.

We will see.

Recap

Eyeglass repair kit from CVS Pharmacy: first one $4.79, second $2.39, total with tax $7.83.

   

If you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!

NOTE: All items tested were purchased by me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.