I recently had a reaction to epoxy, all my fault I hope. I was working in a heated room with basically no ventilation, wearing zero protective gear, 'nuff said on the dumazz aspect.....
BUT, to make matters much worse, I was using acetone both as a thinner & cleaning agent. If I got epoxy on my hands, I would wipe them with a rag wet with acetone. DON'T DO IT!! Acetone is a solvent that shares some properties with another solvent called DMSO. Two of them being that they can penetrate membranes (read skin/cell walls), & carry foreign agents through those membranes with them. Without realizing it, I was "injecting" myself with epoxy, ca & whatever else was on my hands at the time. I'm sure there are some other common solvents out there we deal with that have some of the same properties, read up on what you are using & wear some gloves & a mask of some sort. I felt like crap for about 2 weeks, no energy, no appetite, irregular, low grade headache, numb/tingling fingertips (my tipoff (-
, & finally all the skin on all my fingertips peeling off. Not something I want to repeat, hope this info keeps someone healthier.
DMSO does have medical uses, as well as being an industrial solvent & a byproduct of the wood pulp industry. It is an antiinflammatory, as well a potential delivery system for medicines without breaking the skin or risking infection.
BUT, to make matters much worse, I was using acetone both as a thinner & cleaning agent. If I got epoxy on my hands, I would wipe them with a rag wet with acetone. DON'T DO IT!! Acetone is a solvent that shares some properties with another solvent called DMSO. Two of them being that they can penetrate membranes (read skin/cell walls), & carry foreign agents through those membranes with them. Without realizing it, I was "injecting" myself with epoxy, ca & whatever else was on my hands at the time. I'm sure there are some other common solvents out there we deal with that have some of the same properties, read up on what you are using & wear some gloves & a mask of some sort. I felt like crap for about 2 weeks, no energy, no appetite, irregular, low grade headache, numb/tingling fingertips (my tipoff (-
DMSO does have medical uses, as well as being an industrial solvent & a byproduct of the wood pulp industry. It is an antiinflammatory, as well a potential delivery system for medicines without breaking the skin or risking infection.