What Is ‘Hot Water Challenge’? Internet Trend Leaves Teen With Second-Degree Burns

One of the dangerous trends to sweep the internet recently was the “Hot Water Challenge” that left a 15-year-old from Indianapolis with second-degree burns.

The challenge, which has been gaining momentum from last year on Twitter and YouTube, has millennials either pouring boiling hot water on their friends or family members as part of a prank or daring someone to drink hot water through a straw.

Needless to say, the trend has led to some life-threatening consequences in the recent past. In the latest incident, Kyland Clark and his friend checked out the challenge last week and decided to try it out. So, one day, when Clark was sleeping, his friend crept up on him and poured boiling hot water on him, leaving him with second-degree burns on his face, chest and back.

“My skin just fell off my chest, and then I looked in the mirror and I had skin falling off here and, on my face,” Clark told Eyewitness News.

The prank ended up hospitalizing Clark for a week during which he underwent treatment for his burns. The teen’s mother said: “To see my baby, all burned up like that, it was heartbreaking.”

Clark said he decided to speak up about what happened to him in order to bring awareness about the dangers involved in participating in the viral trend.

“There’s a limit to what you should do in a challenge and what you shouldn’t. Don’t take it overboard,” he said.

While Clark is expected to fully recover from the burns with enough rest, there have been those who haven’t been as lucky. Ki’ari Pope, 8, from Florida, was dared by her cousin to carry out a variation of the challenge in July 2017, which ended up killing her.

Pope and her cousin had seen videos of people drinking boiling hot water through a straw on YouTube. After being dared by her cousin to replicate the action seen on the site, Pope severely burned her mouth and throat trying to carry out the challenge. She also reportedly suffered chronic respiratory issues along with deafness before dying.

If the name of the challenge wasn’t indication enough, doctors are warning teenagers to refrain from trying out the “Hot Water Challenge,” as it can leave people with second and third-degree burns, which require immediate medical attention.

“Second-degree burns are often painful and cause blisters," Reed Caldwell, M.D., assistant professor at the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine at NYU Langone Health told Women’s Health Magazine. "Third-degree burns are when the skin is either very pale and thick-looking, or actually has muscle, fat, or bone showing.”

But what should you do in case you are doused in hot water? "The first step in any sort of burn is to remove whatever's burning you," Caldwell added, before rushing oneself to the hospital as soon as possible.

Peer pressure is something that every teenager deals with at some point in life but being talked into trying out the dangerous internet trends is not something that can be undone. “If your friends are telling you to do this, they aren’t good friends,” Dr. Ed Bartkus with Indiana University Health said.

Be it the “Zoom Challenge,” the “Tide Pod Challenge” or the “Blue Whale Challenge” — while most social media trends look and feel harmless enough, they often lead participants to end up in hospital beds.

“It’s suggesting to people that they can try it and they won’t be hurt, but they will be, I can guarantee it,” Bartkus said.