A Frosty Challenge
2019
Brehin, Camille | Cortey, Caroline | Claudet, Isabelle | Institut de Recherche en Santé Digestive (IRSD) ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3) ; Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse (ENVT) ; Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP) ; Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP) ; Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) | Equipe EQUITY (CERPOP) ; Centre d'Epidémiologie et de Recherche en santé des POPulations (CERPOP) ; Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3) ; Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3) ; Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)
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Show more [+] Less [-]English. A previously healthy 14-year-old boy presented in our pediatric emergency department with unusual skin lesions on his left forearm. The patient said the lesions started 2 weeks earlier following a spider bite. His physical examination revealed an otherwise healthy child with no medical history with raised square lesions of the left forearm. The lesions were in different stages of healing and resembled second-degree burns. Examination showed no other lesions. Vital signs were normal. The patient was discharged after the lesions were dressed with antibiotic ointment. A follow-up consultation was scheduled a week later, but the patient did not attend the follow-up consultation. A senior emergency physician called the family and learned that the lesions were progressively healing and no other lesions appeared. The teen admitted he played the "salt and ice challenge." DiscussionThe salt and ice challenge involves putting salt on the skin and then applying and/or pressing ice cubes on top of the salt. The challenge is to resist the pain consecutive to frostbite for as long as possible. The result is often second-degree burns and possible partial third-degree burns. ConclusionsBecause of the current popularity of this practice, emergency or family physicians, pediatricians, dermatologists, and burn or orthopedic surgery units might encounter these injuries. When young patients present with geometrical burn injuries and unexplained or bizarre circumstances, self-inflicted burn "challenges" should be considered.
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