Use of electric hair styling tools tied to burn injuries in children

“Hair styling tools are a timeless piece of our everyday routine, helping to create the picture-perfect look. Yet they have the greatest propensity to create a not-so-picture-perfect accident when not handled with care,” said CPT Brandon L. Rozanski, MD, lead author and pediatric resident at Tripler Army Medical Center. “Electric hair styling tools can reach temperatures as high as 450ºF in a matter of minutes, creating potential situations of unintentional burn injury for both the device user and surrounding bystanders.”

Of those hospital emergency department encounters studied, 68% of the injured subjects were age 10 or younger and 65.1% were female. Almost three-quarters of these injuries occurred within the home (72.3%), and 98.6% did not require hospital stays or require any other escalation of care.

“This study demonstrated that children have the great burn injuries propensity to present to the emergency department with burn injuries sustained from hair styling tools,” CPT Rozanski said. “Using this information, clinicians have a unique opportunity to provide targeted anticipatory guidance to educate families on the hazard surrounding everyday use of electric hair styling tools in addition to stressing age-appropriate use with and without parental supervision.” 

Reference:

Electric hair styling products common cause of burn injuries in children, American Academy of Pediatrics, Meeting, 2023 American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference & Exhibition.