PT Journal AU Schneider, T Stokholm, J TI Accumulation of fibers in the eyes of workers handling man-made mineral fiber products. SO Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health PD 12VL PY 1981 BP 271 EP 276 IS 4 DI 10.5271/sjweh.2547 WP https://www.sjweh.fi/show_abstract.php?abstract_id=2547 DE accumulation; biological monitoring; conjunctival mucus; eye; fiber; irritant; man-made mineral fiber; man-made mineral fiber product; mineral fiber; passive dust sampler; skin; worker SN 0355-3140 AB

The external eye can be considered a passive dust sampler. Foreign material deposited in the conjunctival cul-de-sac becomes enclosed by mucous fibrils. The fibrils adhere to the conjunctival mucous thread. Hence, by removing the mucus, one can study, eg, man-made mineral fibers deposited in the eye. In this study a simple method for this purpose has been developed, and the sampling characteristics of the eye for nonrespirable fibers is described. The numbers of nonrespirable fibers accumulated in the eyes correlated with the total dust exposure dose (correlation coefficient r = 0.92) and with the nonrespirable fiber exposure dose (r = 0.82). There was no correlation between the airborne fiber concentration and the number of fibers in the mucous thread alone.

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