Burns to the eyes

Pretty reasonable.
I like that your guy's semi-blind. Most vision impaired folks see more than nothing.
As far as heat, the eye's epithelium is extremely fast healing. The chemical concern is scarier and would have wanted immediate flushing the save him. His face should be scarred, too. The vision impairment is likely to be from damage to the retinas, lenses or corneas. If he's going to be saved later on, make it just corneas and he later gets corneal transplants. They're doing amazing things with lenses, too now.

JoNightshade said:

Okay, so here's my situation. My MC gets caught in an explosion. There's both a heat and chemical component, so either could have affected him. Initially doctors are not sure whether he'll be able to see. Ultimately he is able to see a little but his vision is severely limited. He gets glasses that help quite a bit, but he still can't read (unless the letters are like three inches tall) and he has trouble identifying facial expressions. He also has issues with depth perception. My thought is that everything is a bit blurry for him.

Is there any reason to think that this scenario is not realistic? IE, your eyes could not be damaged in this way, etc.? Please poke as many holes as you can!!!

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I also like the idea that your character has some sight. Also, I wonder if it might continue to improve as it heals.

I can't comment on the injuries, but... I would think that he would have trouble seeing faces at all, not just identifying their facial expressions. I have 20/250 vision without my glasses, which means everything is a "bit blurry" to me. (I can't see the E on top of the eye chart.) Without my glasses, if someone I know is standing 8 or 10 feet from me, I can't identify them, unless I recognize their voice, clothes, etc.

I tease my hairdresser that with my glasses off, she's just a black-and-white blob to me while she's cutting my hair -- and she's standing close enough for me to touch.

inept shop teacher

for a year or so i taught in a high school with a goofy shop teacher. the boys were always getting their eyes burned while welding. things were blurry for them. they were excused from reading--i taught brit lit. so i know this. i would read to them. sometimes they would have to put a washcloth over their eyes and rest in a dim room. i think the admin was worried by the threat of a lawsuit and maybe overreacting. the burn was usually over by the end of the day but sometimes they were excused from sports or band.
my dad was in an oilfield explosion and fire. his eyes were okay because he was walking to the doghouse when the derrick blew and caught fire. the guys on the platform had problems with lung and throat burns --not to mention body burns. my eighty five year old godfather still has lung problems from that fire. he sees well. didn't wear glasses until he was a grandfather. and he was on fire when dad rolled him in the snow--s6 ps--the shop teacher finally got fired for showing the boys an r rated movie. burning their spiritual eyes i guess.

Horseshoes said:

Pretty reasonable.
I like that your guy's semi-blind. Most vision impaired folks see more than nothing.
As far as heat, the eye's epithelium is extremely fast healing. The chemical concern is scarier and would have wanted immediate flushing the save him. His face should be scarred, too. The vision impairment is likely to be from damage to the retinas, lenses or corneas. If he's going to be saved later on, make it just corneas and he later gets corneal transplants. They're doing amazing things with lenses, too now.

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You can have impaired vision with no visible scarring on the face. That happened to me. It depends upon what actually caused the damage. Caustic chemicals will likely scar the face and the corneas, effectivlely causing cataracts. Corneas can be replaced with transplants provided there is not some contraindication to surgery. If the visual impairment is the result of projectiles or puncture of the eyeball and therefore loss of vitreous humor and subsequent reshaping of the eyball, that can result in impairment of vision but one might have no visible skin scarring after it healed. In my case I was shot in the face with a black powder pistol. The cretin who shot me forgot to put a bullet in so I had extensive powderburns, but wasn't killed. It was no fun waiting the 3 days till the bandages came off wondering if I would be able to see again. The skin healed but I need glasses now since the gsw.

Maryn said:

Scary story, George, but you're one lucky guy! Can I touch you? (No, not that way--for luck!)

Maryn, amazed by our bodies' abilities to recover

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You would need a permission slip from my wife, and actually I think my luck has been used up.

Is that a severed finger in your avatar?

JoNightshade said:

Okay, so here's my situation. My MC gets caught in an explosion. There's both a heat and chemical component, so either could have affected him. Initially doctors are not sure whether he'll be able to see. Ultimately he is able to see a little but his vision is severely limited. He gets glasses that help quite a bit, but he still can't read (unless the letters are like three inches tall) and he has trouble identifying facial expressions. He also has issues with depth perception. My thought is that everything is a bit blurry for him.

Is there any reason to think that this scenario is not realistic? IE, your eyes could not be damaged in this way, etc.? Please poke as many holes as you can!!!

Click to expand...

Don't know about the sight thing, but I would caution you to make sure your MC has some difficulty breathing and/or throat burns after this explosion... as a firefighter/paramedic, I can tell you that would be a bigger deal initially than the eyes.

Audrey

My sister once burned her cornea (in just one eye)- not a permanent injury thankfully.
She saw things through that eye through a hazy film, and she said the actual burned cornea felt like sandpaper when she'd blink. It damaged the surface of the cornea so I suppose it would be what a scab or scar tissue would feel like but on her eyeball.
Thought that detail may help.