Found out old red brick dust can mess with your lungs years later

I was reading a trade safety article last week and it said silica dust from cutting old brick stays in your lungs way longer than I thought. The stat that got me was that you can be exposed for under a year and still have scarring show up 10 or 15 years down the road. I always wore a mask on big jobs but sometimes skipped it for quick cuts. Now I'm going back and buying better respirators for my crew. Has anyone else here had a close call with dust they ignored?

2 comments

2 Comments

abby_black8d ago

That stat about scarring showing up 10-15 years later is what gets me too. Did you actually know someone who got sick from it, or was the article just enough to make you rethink things?

thomas2757d ago

My cousin actually got really sick from a tattoo she got in her early 20s, and it took like 12 years before she started getting these weird rashes and hard bumps right over the colored ink. She went to a dermatologist who said it was a delayed allergic reaction to the red pigment, and honestly, that stuck with me because she never had any issues right after getting it done. The doctor told her that some particles can travel to her lymph nodes too, which just sounds wild but also explains why sometimes people feel off years later without connecting it to ink. So when I read that article about scarring and long-term effects, it all clicked because I saw firsthand how something can seem fine for a decade and then mess with your health. Now when I see people with heavy color tattoos, I just wonder if they're gonna be dealing with that down the road.