Hell, I thought in the land down under, that men were soo tuff that they didn't even use helmets and they chewed the weld off with their teeth!!! 
Well of course I used to be that tough mate, but all these American soap opera's I watch have really brought out my sensitive side, ha ha!
Actually, I nearly blinded myself years ago, I was using my cousins old arc welder fixing my dad's trailer hinge, and cuz's mask was so bad I was looking around it rather than thru it, anyway, I woke up in the middle of the night and my eyes were opening and closing of their own accord, like one continous blink?
F*cking weird shiite mate, I thought I was going mad? Anyway, my mother came to the rescue with a couple of cold used teabags which she placed over my eyes, and within 30 minutes or so, I was fine.
My cousin who had been a pro welder in an engineering company, was hospitalised when he got real sick after welding inside a stainless steel milk vat, apparently the reflected UV screwed him over pretty bad, even though he was wearing a mask and other PPE? Cheers, Terry.
