The magnetic field inside the MRI hood is INTENSE. It is enough to pull a magnetic fragment if it is embedded in soft tissue and cause additional damage.
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Shop Question for the basement shop guys
- Thread starter YotaBota
- Start date
Shop
I was afraid someone would say something like that. There are more than even odds that I have metal fragments in lots of places including my eyes. I've had 4 or 5 MRIs in my life and nobody asked me about metal fragments...... I'm still here though so......
Doggggboy
Ultra Member
I would think that chances are if the metal fragment has been in your eye for any length of time, it has essentially dissolved and turned to rust, at least if it was steel or iron. My BIL got a chunk of steel in his eye the first time he used his lathe. His ophthalmic surgeon said the biggest risk was an infection if it was in long enough to start to rust. Not a sure thing, but apparently not uncommon. My wife has a shotgun pellet in her leg and when they did an MRI on her knee they assumed it was lead and she had no problem.
MRI stands for Magnetic resonance Imaging - the image is taken by measuring the resonant effect or 'aftershock' of a powerful magnet. Its a secondary magnetic field created by the first one. In the human body, usually by water molecules. The main field is powerful, but is pulsates. It makes a loud noise too. Metallic fragments seem unlikely to migrate or cause much damage under these conditions
Have spent rather more time than I really cared to inside MRI machines, and never got laid out on the table without first getting questioned about metalwork or other hazards to my eyes, as well as pretty much running at 100 percent on getting sent around to X-Ray to be sure I did not have any particles worth noting in my eyes.
Given the risks involved, I am surprised that @Susquatch has NOT been treated to such questioning beforehand.
Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
They asked me if I had any metal slivers in my eye, and when I said yes I'd had some over the years they didn't seem too concerned about it. They did look at them, but no x ray. I showed them my hands with a bunch of tiny broke off metal slivers, and they said that'd be fine, but that I might feel a slight tingle if anything. Didn't feel a thing. MRI came back negative too. Didn't find anything in there, completely hollow 
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trlvn
Ultra Member
When I had metal in my eyeball, I believe it was a magnet that they used to extract it.
Oh, you want the story? There were no fences in our neighbourhood when we moved in. The second weekend working on it, we had a really good day and then had dinner with the neighbours behind us. As dinner went on, my eye was getting more and more itchy; started to water, etc. I never felt a thing when it happened but the allergic reaction escalated pretty quickly. Shortly after, headed to the ER. By now, it was later on Saturday night and I was sure it was going to take hours to be seen. Not so--I was in being examined in short order. After eye drops and a very intense light, the doc announced that it appeared to be a bit of a nail head and retrieved it some sort of electro-magnet. Then he lifted my eyelids and kind of chuckled. Which is sort of off-putting in those circumstances and I asked him about it. He said that he always instructs residents to do this kind of final check to see if there are any other foreign objects. There almost never is...except in my case there was another small fragment! I guess he was happy to now have a live example to use when doing future training. I explained how I was so very glad to be able to help!
Craig
Oh, you want the story? There were no fences in our neighbourhood when we moved in. The second weekend working on it, we had a really good day and then had dinner with the neighbours behind us. As dinner went on, my eye was getting more and more itchy; started to water, etc. I never felt a thing when it happened but the allergic reaction escalated pretty quickly. Shortly after, headed to the ER. By now, it was later on Saturday night and I was sure it was going to take hours to be seen. Not so--I was in being examined in short order. After eye drops and a very intense light, the doc announced that it appeared to be a bit of a nail head and retrieved it some sort of electro-magnet. Then he lifted my eyelids and kind of chuckled. Which is sort of off-putting in those circumstances and I asked him about it. He said that he always instructs residents to do this kind of final check to see if there are any other foreign objects. There almost never is...except in my case there was another small fragment! I guess he was happy to now have a live example to use when doing future training. I explained how I was so very glad to be able to help!
Craig
Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
Both times I got a sliver in my eye (at least I think it's only been two) they were fine steel ones, and I didn't notice until I blinked, and boy could I tell then..... They were stuck right into the eye. Easily pulled out with tweezers, but man, they stung they eyelid. Yes I was wearing safety glasses too. All fragments came out, not like they do in my hand when they break off under the skin and then I go digging, or just let them work out on their own.
X100 on that one! Me too.
As an engineer, or maybe just as a curious old man who likes to know more than he should, I am amazed I was never asked about it. But nothing ever came of it. So I must be ok.
I don't really know if I have anything in my eyes anymore or even if they dissolved or became cysts. I know that several of the ones in my hands are encysted and still show in x-rays. I can still feel them by rolling my skin around. Most of the ones in my eye were embedded in my cornea and were removed with tweezers. Ya @Dan Dubeau, they hurt like hell! But not as much as my post kidney operation problems. When I tell a doctor I have high pain tolerance, it's because I know exactly what a pain level of 10 feels like. I've done my own stitches, crushed two toes to smitherines, shot the end off one of my fingers with shrapnel from my tractor, passed multiple kidney stones big and small, had a stick poked in beside an eyeball, got knocked out cold with a baseball bat, had a colonoscopy without sedation, had drains installed and removed from my bladder without sedation, broke my nose with a shovel handle, fell and pushed a tang into my hand separating my thumb from my palm, pulled my own finger nail off when a doctor couldn't do it, had tooth repairs with no freezing - all NOTHING compared to pulling on a drain hose sewn into my kidney through my back ribs. THAT WAS HORRIBLE. I SCREAMED LIKE A BABY. My mother was visiting me when that happened and she fainted. She has had 7 kids so she is a tough old bird. My blood curdling screams were too much for her.
Yup, I know exactly what a pain level of 10 feels like. Getting old isn't for sissies.
Thanks to everyone for enlightening me on MRI risks.
Doggggboy
Ultra Member
My dad referred to that as a bastardizing assholoscopy. He was pretty sure they went up there with a 2x4 and a trouble light.
Well, to be honest, the doctor was drop dead gorgeous so I endured it without complaint. She had great bedside manners too. It was interesting to watch the video screen. Didn't feel very sexy though.
It seems a few people don't always see things your way, Susquatch, and use "tools to try convince you otherwise. And then there's what you do to yourself!
Maybe interesting for me, MRI in July, we will see, they done a c scan, cat scan or something, on my head, they said "great news, nothing there!" Dam, I was hoping for a brain! I never thought I would live this long, should of done one or two things different, but gotta live a life!
Maybe interesting for me, MRI in July, we will see, they done a c scan, cat scan or something, on my head, they said "great news, nothing there!" Dam, I was hoping for a brain! I never thought I would live this long, should of done one or two things different, but gotta live a life!
Yup, sure do.
When I had my stroke they did a Cat Scan, an MRI, X-rays, echo-cardiogram on my heart, a moderate stress test, and several Angiograms on my heart, neck, and head. They didn't find anything either.
Like you I was quite alarmed. I said "What? You mean my brain is missing?" the doctor was a young woman and she laughed. I guess she never had anyone say that before. Either that or she was just humouring an old man. Very convincing if so.
So she showed me the catscan results on a computer screen. That was fascinating. She pointed at the various brain areas and sections and then remarked that I didn't show any of the shrinkage that was typical of patients my age. I went from being very unhappy to happy in an instant. I also showed no signs of a stroke. That damage didn't materialize till a few months later leaving me virtually blind in one eye.
Looking at those catscan sections was very interesting. Almost like layers of a 3D Printout. It's so hard to comprehend what goes on in that brain. We do it, but we have very little real knowledge about how we do it. Every voluntary and involuntary action, metabology, vision, hearing, smell & taste, sensory perception, and of course reasoning, dreaming, creativity, thinking, wanting, planning, empathy, memories, sorrow, pain, muscular control and coordination, fear, anger, love, and the list goes on and on and on. All that within a mushy pile of nerves in a relatively small cavity between our ears.
Amazing that you and I can do all that with "nothing there" eh!
Some of us use it better than others. You do and I think you give it a good work-out.
One of those times two or three Emoticons would be good. A heart, a laugh, and a wink!