NO SENSE, NO SENSIBILITY - A TALE OF 2 ADULT HAIRDRIER BURNS

Hot air burns resulting from hairdriers held against the skirt are rar e. The largest published clinical series relates to burns in children injured by the use of hairdriers at home. Adults are assumed,tot to be al risk because the pain associated with thermal injury would normall y stimulate acute action to prevent further skin damage. We present tw o adult patients in whom the normal protective mechanisms were inactiv e. There tons loss of consciousness resulting from an epileptic fit in one case, and the local absence of sensation in a flap used to recons truct a breast after mastectomy, in the other. The temperatures genera ted by hairdriers were experimentally assessed and the results are rev iewed. We emphasize that hairdriers are a potentially dangerous source of hot air and can cause bunts. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd for ISB I.