Don’t try this at home - Squid Game challenge sees children treated at Birmingham hospital

Experts at Birmingham Children’s Hospital’s specialist Burn Centre have issued a warning to families after a worrying increase in the number of young people suffering injuries after attempting to recreate a challenge linked to the series Squid Game.

The challenge from the popular show currently being shared on social media channels, including TikTok, sees people combining a mixture of sugar and baking soda overheat, such as an oven hob, to create the ‘Dalgona or Honeycomb’ candy challenge seen in the 15-rated series.

The team at the specialist hospital have already seen a handful of children over the last three weeks who have suffered nasty injuries to hands and arms when the sticky liquid substance, which has a boiling point of 160 degrees Celsius – 60 degrees higher than water, spills.

Mr Oliver Sawyer, consultant burns and plastic surgeon at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We’re really worried after seeing several children with very deep skin injuries caused by scalds linked to this social media trend. Given the very high boiling point of the substance any scalds do really have potential to cause serious scarring.

“We’d warn against anyone doing this because of the damage it can potentially cause but, as with any form of cooking, children should never be unaccompanied. In just a few seconds an accident could lead to life-changing and lasting injuries.”

If an injury is sustained from boiling sugar water clinicians advice that all clothing touched by the substance is removed, the affected area is immediately submerged in cool running water and medical assistance is sought.

When cooking people are being reminded to take simple precautions to guard against accidents, including ensuring all saucepan or frying pan handles are positioned on the back burner/hob where possible and all handles inwards to avoid them being knocked resulting in spillages.

Mr Sawyer added: “Sadly, we do see lots of injuries that are avoidable. We’d really encourage parents in the home to speak with children to warn of the real dangers associated with this social media trend.”

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. BirminghamWorld is Birmingham’s latest news website, championing everything that is great about our city - reporting on news, lifestyle and sport. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going.