A woman fears she will be scarred for life after sustaining second and third degree burns when a Primark nail glue spilt onto her leg, causing her calf to ‘sizzle’.
Aaliyah Kent, 21, said plumes of smoke filled the room as the £1.50 glue burnt through fabric and left her screaming in agony as it ‘ate its way through’ her skin.
Now six months after the incident in June, Ms Kent, from Nuneaton, in Warwickshire, still has to dress the two burns and doctors warned her wounds will never heal in full, The Sun reports.
She said: “When it happened I screamed the house down.
“My left calf was sizzling and there was smoke everywhere.
“The material on the legging immediately melted away.
“My leg started to blister instantly. The glue was burning and eating away at my skin. It was instant pain."
“I was holding the bottle in my hand and as I went to put it down on the table it fell and spilled on to it, then on to my sofa and my left legging, which it burned straight through.
“It went all over the sofa and the sofa started smoking, too. There is now a big hard patch where it spilled.”
She had to cut her leggings off because the material was sticking to the open wounds. Ms Kent was forced to take the day off work due to extreme pain, that would soon turn into infected open wounds.
Bizarrely, Ms Kent had used this exact nail glue for years without any issues. Usually, she said, the glue would stick to her hands then when it dried she could peel it off.
A few days after the shocking incident, the burns opened and leaked pus and blood. Her leg also swelled twice the size.
After experiencing shooting and burning pains she went to A&E - little did she know at the time it would be the start of frequent hospital trips.
The hospital dressed the burns with a special copper lined dressing used to treat third degree burns and she has regular check-ups at the doctors.
She added: “The doctors at the hospital did discuss whether I would need a skin graft, but because the wound is on the surface and relatively small I don’t think I will have to.”
She was left with two surface wounds, one about the size of a penny and another two inches by two inches.
Ms Kent complained to Primark via an online customer form a few weeks after the incident - but did not receive a response.
The 21-year-old - who works as a complaints handler - didn’t pursue a resolution with the discounted clothes outlet because she believed it was her fault.
A spokesman for Primark said they had not received a complaint from her, but added: “We were very sorry to learn of this customer’s experience and ask her to get in touch with us so we can investigate her complaint.
“We take the safety of our customers and the quality of our products very seriously. This nail glue complies fully with EU standards for safety, quality and product labelling.
“The glue is made of two ingredients which are both commonly used in similar products sold by retailers across the high street. The ingredients are listed on the product packaging alongside the required warnings about skin contact.”
