Parents everywhere, be warned: teens and preteens are giving themselves second-degree burns doing something called the "Salt and Ice Challenge."
Doing dumb stuff is part of growing up. It's even healthy, within reason. But there's a big difference between doing car doughnuts in the parking lot behind the Tasty Freeze, and giving yourself a permanent scar in pursuit of 15 second of internet fame.
Unfortunately, kids today seem to be obsessed with internet challenges. Last year, an incredibly dangerous fad called the "Duct-Tape Challenge" was the big thing for kids on social media. Usually, the "challenge" is about withstanding pain.
On and off for the past two years, kids have pursued the Salt and Ice Challenge for a similar reason. The mixture of ice and salt causes a painful burning sensation and usually leaves behind a mark.
Kids record themselves doing it, and upload the video and photos to the internet for likes and shares. Parents should know all about the tell-tale signs of this trend. Some kids are pushing the challenge to extremes, and ending up with painful second-degree burns as a result.
Parents these days have a lot of new stuff to worry about. Kids have always pulled dumb stunts, but teens growing up in the internet age seem obsessed with following faddish online "challenges."
These trends tend to involve withstanding a certain amount of pain in order to rack up lots of admiration online. Past trends have involved eating cinnamon, chugging large amounts of milk, and suction-cupping their lips to make them bigger.
Now, the "it" thing in online bodily harm is a trend called the Salt and Ice Challenge.
The challenge is as simple as it is knuckleheaded.
Kids (and some adults) place salt somewhere on their body, usually an arm, and then hold a piece of ice on top.
If you've ever used salt to melt your icy driveway or cool a bottle of champagne, you already know how this works: The salt reacts with the ice to make it melt faster and conducts the cold to make the temperature drop rapidly.
This creates ultra-cold conditions right on the surface of the skin, mimicking the effect of frostbite.
The craze first became big in 2012, and we were all grateful when it seemed to die out. Unfortunately, the trend seems to have come back around. It's suddenly cropping up again on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.
Once again, parents have to be on the lookout for signs that their kids are planning to try this dangerous fad.
It usually starts out as a dare, so it's pretty common for kids to do the "challenge" together in groups. They also make a competition out of it, seeing who can last longest with the painful melting ice burning their skin.
Some kids even use it as a substitute for a tattoo or piercing. The same way girls used to pierce their own ears at slumber parties, kids today might try to get "matching" salt and ice scars by making letter or shapes out of the ice before they start.
So, if you're hosting the next birthday party or sleepover at your house, keep an eye out. If your kids try to slip off with a salt shaker and some ice cubes, they might be giving this dangerous "challenge" a try.
It's hard to believe, because the materials seem so mild, but the combination of salt and ice is very potent and causes an intense chemical reaction that can burn right through the layers of the skin.
Kids often won't even realize how badly they have injured themselves, because the ice numbs the skin so much that it doesn't start hurting until later.
Meanwhile, they have been doing grievous damage to their skin. Some are left with bubble-like blisters, while others end up with angry red burns. Some even sear their skin so badly that they bleed.
Lots of kids and parents are reporting that teens have received second-degree burns as the result of the Salt and Ice Challenge.
One 12-year-old in Pittsburgh nearly died in 2012 from a Salt and Ice Challenge gone wrong, and had to be admitted to the burn unit of the local hospital.
Other kids have tried to hide their wounds from parents, ending up with serious infections.
If you plan to talk to every kid in your life about the dangers of this challenge, please be sure to spread the word and SHARE with any parents you know.
