The number of smokers injured by exploding electronic cigarettes has prompted warnings of dangers to users, with one burns surgeon revealing reports of injuries so serious that they were comparable to that of someone being “shot in the face with a gun”.
The warnings are being supported by fire chiefs and trading standards officials, who say that consumers tempted to buy cheap or imported “vaping” kits could end up being badly hurt.
Surgeons at Morriston Hospital’s Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery in Swansea said they had treated five patients for burns after the batteries inside e-cigarette exploded. “Before this year, we hadn’t seen any injuries like this. Now we have had five, which reflects the rising popularity of these e-cigarettes,” said hospital consultant plastic surgeon Dai Nguyen.
Three of the patients treated at the hospital had their e-cigarette devices in their trouser pockets when they exploded. They include a 25-year-old who was paintballing at the time and a factory worker who suffered thigh and groin injuries, as well as burns to his hand, when he tried to extinguish the flames.
The patients Nguyen has seen only suffered superficial burns and have made a good recovery, but she said: “I am aware of other cases which have required surgery and skin grafts.
“There have also been reports of e-cigarettes exploding in people’s mouths, which resulted in catastrophic injuries similar to those you would experience if you were shot in the face with a gun.”
