acid burn

Hellbilly · #1 (**permalink**) 02-02-2013, 11:37 PM

found an old bottle of cleaner in the shed today and it said acid free.well I decided my rims needed a cleaning real bad,so after it i went. started on the third rim and my hand started burning got worse and worse bt the second. splashed some water on rim and headed for the house. went thru fridge until i found the bakin soda. it worked alittle. went and looked at bottle it said use vinager used it. got it to calm down abit,but still burns and hurts. fingers all puffed up,finger prints or gone and nails turned brown. checked the bottle later and guess what. sodium hydroccloride. gues what that is? yep you know it,acid free my a$$. havnt checked my rims yet. it said that when in contact with alum. it releases hydrogen gas. Point is READ all the fine print. said it will continue to break down tissue for 48hrs

timberghost · #2 (**permalink**) 02-03-2013, 08:38 AM

Holy crap HB, how you doing right now!?!?!? Hope everything is OK!!! Give us an update buddy.

BruceBruce1959 · #3 (**permalink**) 02-03-2013, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by timberghost

Holy crap HB, how you doing right now!?!?!? Hope everything is OK!!! Give us an update buddy.

Yeah, I hope you're doing ok!!!! Keep us posted

Hunting Man · #4 (**permalink**) 02-03-2013, 09:17 AM

Working in a sulfuric acid refinery I know what acid burns can do. We've had a few very serious cases of people burned. In 1975 yours truly was burned from the knees down with 99% acid. By the time I made it to the shower my jeans were gone and my skin was falling off in the shower. Only missed 4 hours of work but was in a lot of pain for a while. We also use sodium hydroxide, caustic, it is very slippery and eats you up like acid but is at the opposite end of the ph scale. Hellbilly, one good thing, skin regenerates fairly quickly.

Hellbilly · #5 (**permalink**) 02-04-2013, 10:03 PM

"sodium hydroxide" thats what is was. hand is doing ok.fingers tips or the worse. edges of the nails or turning darker and nails or curling up. thinking I mite loose my nails

Bud · #6 (**permalink**) 02-05-2013, 07:00 AM

Holy cow I guess we should all slow down and read the labels better.Hopefully the discomfort goes away soon and you retain your nails.

tator · #7 (**permalink**) 02-05-2013, 01:32 PM

sorry to hear this man... that really stinks! or stings... ehhh

Hunting Man · #8 (**permalink**) 02-05-2013, 06:35 PM

Most people think acid is the worse thing but high strength caustic is bad news. The thing with caustic is it's so slippery that you can't hardly get it off your skin, takes a lot of water for 20 minutes. Acid is a lot easier to neutralize with water.

Hellbilly · #9 (**permalink**) 02-05-2013, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hunting Man

Most people think acid is the worse thing but high strength caustic is bad news. The thing with caustic is it's so slippery that you can't hardly get it off your skin, takes a lot of water for 20 minutes. Acid is a lot easier to neutralize with water.

you got that right. it felt like I had a hand full of some of the slickist grease ive ever seen and nothing would take it off. just kept on with soap,water,baking soda and vinager. 3 of my rims or clean,but man they need some crazy buffing. Im sure atleast 3 nails or gonna go. the sides or curling up, now the ends or starting to curl

timetohunt · #10 (**permalink**) 02-06-2013, 12:19 PM

Base Burn! Ouch - as a chemist we use Codium Hydroxide in the lab all the time. Always careful and were gloves and goggles. Strong Acids or Bases are both dangerous and destroy tissue. Baking soda probally didn't too much but the vinegar should neutralize it.

I'm praying for a speedy recovery. I lost a toe nail when I bounced a big chuck of fire wood off my bare big toe while standing on concrtete. Took nearly a year to grow back and was really tender that whole time.