Hair-styling tools burning thousands of kids each year: study

Electric hair-styling products like curling irons caused nearly 31,000 burns in kids and young people over a 10-year period, sending about 1,000 of them to the emergency room, a new study shows.

The abstract, due to be presented Sunday at the AAP National Conference & Exhibition in Washington, DC, features an analysis of ER visits involving hair-styling tools for people 24 and younger from 2013 to 2022.

Researchers recorded 30,839 burn injuries and 1,050 emergency visits. Hair curlers and curling irons accounted for 97.4% of the injuries. 

“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,” Dr. Brandon L. Rozanski, lead study author and pediatric resident at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii, said in a statement.

“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,” he added.

Kids under 10 years old are most at risk, accounting for 68% of the injuries.

65.1% of those injured were female. Nearly three-quarters of the burns occurred at home (72.3%), and 98.6% did not require hospital stays.

“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,” Rozanski added.