Not all ESD events will show up as a dead diode...sometimes it is just enough to knock off a few thousand hours of life from them. Then again it could blow the facet off the die just as easy. Red wavelenths are more suspect to damage than most other diodes. Shorted leads are the best protection...but even then I would treat all diodes as if I were standing on carpet....use an ESD safe work station and soldering iron. ESD takes all the fun out of these toys. A lot of packaging will pass a discharge through the material into the contents if the proper situation presents itself...only metal coated bags for me.
You are the only one that can make your dreams come true....and the only one that can stop them...A.M. Dietrich