glasses WARNING

John C.

I came off yesterday. On the way home from work, it had been raining but the roads had dried up, I was coasting down a slight hill at about 20mph and entered the left hand bend as I have done dozens of times in the past when the front end of the bike went away from me and I was sliding down a very rough graveled road. A very pleasant lady stopped and asked if I was OK and my bravado made me say yes.
She suggested I went to The Lamburt (local cottage hospital), I cycled the 5 1/2 miles home and my wife sent me to The Lamburt. They patched up my right knee, right elbow, right thumb and forefinger. Left knee, left middle finger, left elbow and left shoulder (that one's sore). But I would have to go to The Friarage (local large hospital) to get my left cheek and eyebrow seen to. I explained to the doctors at The Friarage that yes I had been waring a helmet and gloves which was why my palms were OK and the top of my head also OK, but it was the safety glasses that had hit the road and were written off that had caused the cheek damage. The glasses in question were normal safety glasses of the skeletal design, ie no lower frame, so when excessive force was applied to them they cut into my cheek.
As the dirt was so deeply embedded in my cheek/lower eyelid, The Friarage referred me to James Cook Hospital (The not so local big hospital) where they cut bits out and stitched me back togeather again, many thanks.
Which brings out two points
1. The NHS ain't half a good organisation yanks take note.
2. Check your glasses and if they are the racey skeletal ones, are they the right ones for you ?
Who knows what the injuries would have been if I hadn't been wearing any protective clothing , but I think I will be getting a different design of glasses shortly.
The good news of the weekend is that my blood pressure is down to 130/70 and resting heartrate down to 56. Not bad for a 50 year old that was 2 stone over weight, had BP on the danger area 10 years ago.

Dazzza

You bring up a very valid point, fortunately my rudy rydons aren't made from polycarbonate so i have a fair bit of flex but still a bit sobering though.

Anonymous

Glad to hear you're ok and doing well with the health thang!

frenchfighter

Sorry about the crash and the scrapes and hurts that followed. The glasses point is interesting. I have a semi-rimless version too yet I think it would be pretty rare for something like what happened to you to happen to everyone who crashes with them.

How come both left and right sides were injured? Did you roll?

John C.

frenchfighter wrote:

Sorry about the crash and the scrapes and hurts that followed. The glasses point is interesting. I have a semi-rimless version too yet I think it would be pretty rare for something like what happened to you to happen to everyone who crashes with them.

How come both left and right sides were injured? Did you roll?

No I didn't role, I think it was more that I dropped straight down wich got the right contact points then slid on my left side. It all happened so fast I'm not really sure. I agree the injuries to my face are probably rare but I thought it worth while raising the subject.

frenchfighter

Ok, got it. I heard of this guy who was doing London to Brighton ride, crashed on a descent and got a nasty facial injury from his glasses.

John C.

frenchfighter wrote:

Ok, got it. I heard of this guy who was doing London to Brighton ride, crashed on a descent and got a nasty facial injury from his glasses.

May be it's more common than we thought ?

I've just had another look at my helmet and it isn't scratched at all, but there is a flat just above the left temple area, could this indicate I came down hard on this area and then bounced ?

nferrar

I've had two facial injuries from cycling, one a freak one on an MTB night ride that ended with a branch hitting me hard in the left eye - I had some DHB glasses on which saved my eye but yeah the bottom of the lens dug into my face and needed 9 stitches. Second one I overshot a corner on my road bike and supermanned into a drystone wall - helmet took most of it but I also scraped my face down the wall. Had Oakley Radars on at the time which were badly scratched and the nose piece was pushed into my nose (needed 5 stitches) and a bit on my right cheek (2 stitches). So all in all glasses are a good thing but yeah the lens bottoms can act like a cutting edge in a crash - not sure you can do much about different types of nose pieces though.

Stone Glider

As I understand it, it is possible to buy glasses where the lanses are polycarbonate (i.e.safe) but the frames aren't.

I use all-in-one polycarbonate frames/lens from Screwfix.

adydow

I expect its more common to get facial injurys from glasses when mountain biking, as my glasses have saved my face numerous times with my frequent mtb offs, not come off my Road bike yet....I wonder if your face would of been worse if you had not worn the glasses, the impact caused your glasses to cut your face, had you not be wearing them your face would of taken more of the impact.

KevinMcC

I wear glasses day to day, need them to see when I am on the bike. Worried reading this what might happen if I go off and land the wrong way

However any scarring would more than likely improve my looks, would be hard to make them worse anyway!



Side note, anyone got prescription sports specs, any advice, tips recommendations?

adydow

KevinMcC wrote:

I wear glasses day to day, need them to see when I am on the bike. Worried reading this what might happen if I go off and land the wrong way

However any scarring would more than likely improve my looks, would be hard to make them worse anyway!



Side note, anyone got prescription sports specs, any advice, tips recommendations?

I have some adidas ones with inserts had them for about 3 years, they have clear, orange and dark lenses so very versatile, only problem is they smear with sweat and steam up, have some demister from motorbike shop that helps a lot.

KevinMcC

inserts sounds like a solution, I have seen some glasses where they can do the wrap around but not for my prescription alas. Inserts would get round this.
Mist with sweat, pah there isnt a hill steep enough to cause me to break the mildest sweat :shock:

skyd0g

Sorry to hear of your "off" & I'm glad to hear you're okay.
Safety glasses are designed to prevent damage to your eyes, and the glasses you had on succeeded in that mission. The only way that no or little damage would have been caused to your face would have been by wearing something like these:

...even then, you would have probably had some major bruising about the surrounding area.
...but somehow, I don't think they would catch on.

I personally wear semi-rimless safety glasses because I don't like the "blind-spots" you get with fully-framed glasses - especially when looking over my shoulder for cars etc. I'd prefer to risk a cut cheek from a fall, than risk bouncing off a car. IMHO

GeorgeShaw

This might be an obvious question, but were your glasses inside or outside of your helmet strap?

nolf

I wear glasses full time due to pretty poor eyesight.
Crashed a fair few times (bad technique...?) but never really damaged my face due to them.
I'm always much more concerned about breaking them than them breaking me...

neilmacd

KevinMcC wrote:

Side note, anyone got prescription sports specs, any advice, tips recommendations?

I used to wear Rudy Project Ekynox with the insert/ clip on bit inside them. Bit heavy right enough.
Currently got a pair of Oakley Flak Jackets although to get them done in a prescription model is expensive. £265 for the frame - Black Iridium lens . Another £165 for Perimmon lenses for low light conditions.

If you can wear contacts that's always an option as then you can just buy a pair of bog-standard off the shelf glasses which will be cheaper than most prescription options around.

There was that Optilabs place doing prescription cycling glasses. a couple of guys in my club had them and rated them quite highly. Not sure if they're still around or have been credit crunched.

adydow

GeorgeShaw wrote:

This might be an obvious question, but were your glasses inside or outside of your helmet strap?

I wear mine inside my helmet strap, don't feel right outside.

hammerite

I have a nice spec arm mark/scar on the side of my face and a small scar under one of my eyes.

At the time of the incident I actually had a full imprint of my glasses on my face in cuts! I think it's just a risk we take, and all glasses regardless of design and materials will cut the same, just through force. If you think boxers cut with the force of punches - and there's no sharp or hard object jamming directly into their face.

Yes you could end up with cuts and scars, but you could also end up in a worse state if something were to hit you in the eye.

Glad you are OK John. Interesting point about the hospitals, can't believe you had to go to three different places though!

andrewjoseph

KevinMcC wrote:

...

Side note, anyone got prescription sports specs, any advice, tips recommendations?

I've got optilabs glasses, had them a few years. I've now had them re-glazed with my varifocal prescription and it makes an enormous difference.

it is relatively expensive but means a lot less hassle for me when riding. I have them tinted yellow so I can used them day and night.

GeorgeShaw

adydow wrote:

GeorgeShaw wrote:

This might be an obvious question, but were your glasses inside or outside of your helmet strap?

I wear mine inside my helmet strap, don't feel right outside.

I ask because I remember reading somewhere that the pros always put them outside, so that they are pinged off in an incident, rather than getting trapped and mashing your face.

Woodchip

GeorgeShaw wrote:

adydow wrote:

GeorgeShaw wrote:

This might be an obvious question, but were your glasses inside or outside of your helmet strap?

I wear mine inside my helmet strap, don't feel right outside.

I ask because I remember reading somewhere that the pros always put them outside, so that they are pinged off in an incident, rather than getting trapped and mashing your face.

Hmm, have them stay on your head or fall off and (knowing my luck) end up poking myself in the eye with the arm as I tumble/slide down the road.

I'll have them on my head please.

Oh, and having slid on my face when MTBing I'll be keeping my glasses on thanks. No black eye just a very scratched lense and a small dent in my cheek that went after about 30 mins.

John C.

some body else raised the subject of how I wear the glasses and I have to admit I wear them inside the straps, maybe I need to change this.

Are the all-in-one polycarbonate frames/lens from Screwfix softer , sorry not that up with poly this and that.

As for the 3 hospitals as I said the first one is just my local cottage hospital where there are no facilities and can just clean you up and put a plaster on, the second was a larger hospital where I was happy that they said it was too delicate for them to do the operation on my face and so referred me to plastics at Middlesbrough University Hospital.

From the comments on this topic injury from glasses seems a lot more common than I thought, However I would not like to think what damage would have been done if I hadn't been wearing any protection at all.

gabriel959

John C. wrote:

some body else raised the subject of how I wear the glasses and I have to admit I wear them inside the straps, maybe I need to change this.

Are the all-in-one polycarbonate frames/lens from Screwfix softer , sorry not that up with poly this and that.

As for the 3 hospitals as I said the first one is just my local cottage hospital where there are no facilities and can just clean you up and put a plaster on, the second was a larger hospital where I was happy that they said it was too delicate for them to do the operation on my face and so referred me to plastics at Middlesbrough University Hospital.

From the comments on this topic injury from glasses seems a lot more common than I thought, However I would not like to think what damage would have been done if I hadn't been wearing any protection at all.

No please don't say anything about the helmet, or the anti-helmet brigade will come in swarms!!!

Hope you are feeling better - I have got some glasses like yours so I am a bit worried, may be I need to tell my wife that I need new glasses! :twisted:

rokkala

Woodchip wrote:

GeorgeShaw wrote:

adydow wrote:

GeorgeShaw wrote:

This might be an obvious question, but were your glasses inside or outside of your helmet strap?

I wear mine inside my helmet strap, don't feel right outside.

I ask because I remember reading somewhere that the pros always put them outside, so that they are pinged off in an incident, rather than getting trapped and mashing your face.

Hmm, have them stay on your head or fall off and (knowing my luck) end up poking myself in the eye with the arm as I tumble/slide down the road.

I'll have them on my head please.

Oh, and having slid on my face when MTBing I'll be keeping my glasses on thanks. No black eye just a very scratched lense and a small dent in my cheek that went after about 30 mins.

If you have half decent glasses they should fit comfortably over outside of helmet straps. Not had any issues with mine 'falling off' and ive wore them on the outside of straps from the outset.

MrChuck

If you have half decent glasses they should fit comfortably over outside of helmet straps. Not had any issues with mine 'falling off' and ive wore them on the outside of straps from the outset.

I wear mine inside the straps so that when I take my helmet off and forget they're there I don't end up flinging them into the dirt!

rokkala

MrChuck wrote:

If you have half decent glasses they should fit comfortably over outside of helmet straps. Not had any issues with mine 'falling off' and ive wore them on the outside of straps from the outset.

I wear mine inside the straps so that when I take my helmet off and forget they're there I don't end up flinging them into the dirt!

haha

Stone Glider

@ John C. The point about the polycarbonate glasses is that the entire unit is shatterproof. Some spectacles have shatterproof lenses but the frame may not be, also some hinges have metal prongs reinforcing the frame. All fine until something goes wrong

Polycarbonate would not be any "softer" to you face AFAIK :?

It seems that the glasses you were wearing at the time of your Off did as well as might be expected.

BTW I am short-sighted and wear contact lenses when riding with wrap-round safety specs over my helmet straps

Woodchip

Rokkala wrote:

Woodchip wrote:

GeorgeShaw wrote:

adydow wrote:

GeorgeShaw wrote:

This might be an obvious question, but were your glasses inside or outside of your helmet strap?

I wear mine inside my helmet strap, don't feel right outside.

I ask because I remember reading somewhere that the pros always put them outside, so that they are pinged off in an incident, rather than getting trapped and mashing your face.

Hmm, have them stay on your head or fall off and (knowing my luck) end up poking myself in the eye with the arm as I tumble/slide down the road.

I'll have them on my head please.

Oh, and having slid on my face when MTBing I'll be keeping my glasses on thanks. No black eye just a very scratched lense and a small dent in my cheek that went after about 30 mins.

If you have half decent glasses they should fit comfortably over outside of helmet straps. Not had any issues with mine 'falling off' and ive wore them on the outside of straps from the outset.

The discussion was on about the fact that in the event of an accident they will ping off deliberately if you wear them on the outside.

Oh, and by the way, I think Rudy Project Rydon Chromes are pretty damn good.

rokkala

I'd agree, its what i have too :P

nferrar

I wear my glasses outside my straps (mostly to keep the straps from flapping about) and my glasses don't ping off in accidents - I wouldn't want them to either. I can't actually think how they'd ping off either unless they were very loose fitting (and therefore likely to fall off when you look down...)