In the United Kingdom, a teenager wanted to crush a disposable electronic cigarette by stepping on it. Problem: it sunk into his foot, putting the boy at risk of amputation.
- The disposable e-cigarette, which Harley stepped on, was 10cm long.
- “The moment the doctor told me I might lose my foot was very stressful,” Harley shared.
This Briton’s outing with friends turned into a nightmare. Last October, 13-year-old Harley Bennett strolled with his friends in his city, more precisely in Cirencester in the county of Gloucestershire, in England. In the metro, he sees a disposable electronic cigarette, more commonly known as “Puff”, from the Elf Bar brand on the ground. The teenager thought he could crush the object. By trampling it, the latter pushes it into the top of his heel bone. “I didn’t think about it, I don’t know how to explain it. I just crushed it and it went straight into my foot. It was very painful,” he told the British daily Subway.
Electronic cigarette in the foot: a risk of amputation
While Harley Bennett was in pain, his friend called the boy’s mother, Samantha Robinson, who rushed to find her son and take him to hospital. According to the newspaper, the medical team had never faced this type of incident before. “All the nurses asked to see the pictures I took because they were dumbfounded,” said the teenager’s mother. According to doctors, the top of Harley’s heel bone cracked after a clean cut in the flesh.
The day after his hospitalization, the young patient underwent a two-hour operation and a skin graft, which failed. “Two weeks after the operation, the surgeon said there was a high chance of infection and that he was at risk of losing his foot. (…) He warned that there was a risk that Harley would have to to be amputated”, explained Samantha Robinson.
Properly dispose of disposable e-cigarettes
After nine weeks during which her mother changed her bandages daily and had regular check-ups, Harley is now on the road to recovery. His family now plans to raise awareness about the importance of properly disposing of disposable e-cigarettes after using them. On Facebook, the young patient’s grandmother wrote: “He was wearing shoes with very thick soles. The electronic cigarette went through, through a sock, through his flesh, down to the bone. It’s quite shocking.”