How to get frostbite from deodorant
HOW cooling is your deodorant? One 43-year-old Dundee man has cause to regret using his under-arm spray on his socked and booted feet before heading off shopping. He save the sweaty socks a thorough soaking before setting off. A short while later, he noticed a pain. On removing his sock the men saw that skin was falling off and his feet were turning black.
He had frostbite.
To Ninewells Hospital, then, where the intrepid explorer is treated by consultant plastic surgeon Stuart Waterson:
“The dangers associated with the use of deodorants are not widely known. Perhaps warnings should be in place to advise its use on open areas and not allow soaking of the chemical on fabric.”
Or perhaps you can’t legislate for the foolish?
In 2010, a 14-year-old girl in Switzerland gave herself a case of first-degree frostbite by spraying deodorant onto her skin for around 15 seconds from close range (5cm) in a test of nerve. The situation was not helped when her 45 friend did not believe the teen and reapplied the deodorant spray at a similar distance and for a similar amount of time. She too got frostbite.
Two teenaged girls sprayed their forearms and ankle with a deodorant by holding the nozzle 1 cm from the skin surface for a period of 20 to 30 seconds, which resulted in first- and second-degree frostbite injuries, respectively.
In 2007, the Australian press warned of frosting:
Doctors at the emergency department at Bunbury Regional Hospital Emergency are treating a growing number of children who are burning their skin with deodorant spray. The practise is known as ‘frosting” and involves spraying an aerosol directly on to exposed skin before the spray evaporates.
The hospital’s Dr Martin Howse says one patient was burnt so badly he may need a skin graft. “This really is not a clever thing to do,” he said.
And it smells terrible, too…
Posted: 13th, September 2013 | In: Strange But True, The Consumer Comments (3) | TrackBack | Permalink
