CUMMING, Ga. -- Gary Thompson sees things differently now.
Before insisting on wearing safety glasses, he almost losing his left eye while doing yard work.
"It hurt," he explained to 11Alive's Jennifer Leslie. "It pretty much dropped me to my knees."
Thompson's edger hit an old electric dog fence line in the ground and snapped it.
Pieces of copper wire went flying into his face.
"Out of the corner of my eye, it looked like my eyelash was dangling," Thompson added.
Turns out, it was a piece of wire inside his eye.
He went immediately to see his optometrist, Dr. Gina Borgnini.
"This is the sliver of metal," Dr. Borgnini said as she pointed to images taken the day of the accident. "That particle had so much force and speed and was so sharp that it entered the eye and sealed off behind itself. There was no evidence of any entry site or entry wound."
She knew the copper wire would start rusting and soon, so she ordered emergency surgery to remove it.
"It could have caused a lot of damage, even loss of the eye if left in the eye too long," Dr. Borgnini explained.
Dr. Borgnini warns that safety glasses are a must for any kind of work outdoors.
Gary Thompson believes it.
"It's definitely worth throwing a pair of glasses on," he said.
It's been two years since the accident happened, and Thompson is completely healed with 20/20 vision in his left eye.
Find an optometrist near you by visiting www.GOAeyes.com and using the Find an Optometrist tool.
Learn more about your vision at www.Facebook.com/GeorgiaOptometricAssociation.
