"I wanted to stop smoking and with the vaping you can kind of decrease the amount of nicotine," said Bennett, who lives in Jemison.
Bennett and her husband went on the internet to read reviews and picked a model produced by Sigelei that was highly touted for its safety features. Her healthy plan backfired, literally, when Bennett's e-cigarette battery exploded in her hand last week, causing a fire she fears could have burned down her home.
Bennett said she was changing the battery on her e-cigarette when it sparked.
"It shocked me and then the next thing I know I had a ball of fire in my hand," she said.
She hurled the device across the room and it landed on the bed. The sheets immediately caught fire, so she and her husband quickly hauled the mattress outside before the fire spread to the walls of their mobile home. Although they lost the mattress, they saved their house.
Bennett considers herself lucky, even though she sustained burns to her hand and leg. Her children weren't home and nobody was hurt.
The same can't be said for the increasing number of patients seeking treatment at Alabama burn centers for injuries caused by the batteries in electronic cigarettes. Dr. Chandra Ellis, who directs the burn program at UAB Hospital, said she has treated two patients in the emergency room and tracked five in the clinic for burns caused by exploding batteries. Some of the injuries can be very serious, requiring hospitalization and skin grafts.
"They cause third degree burns that require grafting and may cause disfigurement forever," Ellis said.
Ellis began keeping track of e-cigarette injuries about a year-and-a-half ago when she noticed a string of cases. She searched the internet and found reports about e-cigarette injuries from other academic medical centers.
"It's not isolated to us at all," Ellis said.
Right now, there is no agency that is collecting reports about e-cigarette injuries, but Ellis said she will continue to keep track so she can share the information with other hospitals.
One patient treated at UAB had an e-cigarette battery explode in her mouth, which fractured her jaw and broke a tooth, Ellis said. Most of her patients suffered burns from products that exploded in their pants pockets, she said.
Many products use the same type of batteries that power e-cigarettes, such as laptop computers and cell phones. Investigators believe the shape of e-cigarettes may contribute to the danger, according to an article in Scientific American. When lithium ion batteries inside the cylindrical containers overheat and explode, the burst can propel them like bullets.
Explosions can hurt bystanders as well. Earlier this year, a high school student in Albertville suffered burns to his neck and face after a classmate's battery exploded.
Before the fire last week, Bennett's husband suffered minor burns when a battery overheated in his pocket, she said.
Her three-year-old often plays on the bed that caught fire, Bennett said, and she shudders to think about what might have happened if he and his siblings hadn't been staying with a family member that night.
"If the kids had been there I'm afraid someone would have really gotten hurt," she said.
Very serious injuries have been reported, including cases that resulted in paralysis and death. After her experience, Bennett said she won't buy another e-cigarette, and would like to see stronger warnings on the products themselves.
"I value my home and family too much to purchase another one," Bennett said. "They are very dangerous and they need to put warning signs up."
Resource: http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2016/09/exploding_e-cigarettes_leave_t.html
No comments:
Post a Comment