A horrific e-cigarette explosion has left a woman scarred for life after the explosion tore a side of one of her eyes.
Exploded battery of the cigarette
The woman named Kirby Sheen said she can only remember a puff of smoke from the e-cigarette and a bang came after leaving her needing plastic surgery.
Kirby Sheen has told how her eye lid was split in two by the mouth piece of the device which was propelled towards her by the blast on Wednesday afternoon.
The 24-year-old, who lives in Salford with partner Adam Burgess, 27, and their daughters Aymaris, two, and Ayviarna, five months, had only wanted to check if the e-cig battery was working.
But says she has now been left scarred for life instead, reports Manchester Evening News.
She said: “All I can remember is a puff of smoke and a bang, I knew something had hit me because I had blood pouring from my face.
"I looked down and my hands were black and there was a deep hole in my thumb from where I’d pressed the button.”
Kirby went to Salford Royal for treatment but was later transferred to the Manchester Royal Infirmary because of the severity of the injuries to her eye.
Kirby's injury
The next morning she underwent a two-hour operation on her eye to repair the damage caused.
She added: “I didn’t want to look at it but I had to take my dressing off when I got home. In my eyes it was a mess.
“I’m a girl and I like to wear make-up and that’s not going to be happening for a long time.
“We’re supposed to be getting married as well next year so I really hope it has healed by then.”
After the 2 hour surgery
Both Adam and Kirby have now stopped using e-cigs saying “they’re too dangerous” and won’t let them in the house again.
Kirby said: “I was at home with my children when it happened and had to try and stay calm as not to scare them but it was scary.
“Neither of us will ever touch anything like that again, they’re more dangerous than smoking, it could’ve taken my life or eyesight.
“I want to raise awareness of how dangerous they can be, I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.”
The couple now intend to quiz EFEST, who manufactuer the batteries, to find out what caused the explosion.
Adam explained Kirby had put the battery into his Tugboat e-cig (which has replaceable batteries) to see if it was the battery or her own e-cig that wasn’t working.
He said the battery fits into his e-cig but when she placed the battery in it there was an explosion.
He added: “I want to know the reason behind what happened.
"If it’s a fault with the battery people need to be made aware, Kirby was just millimeters from losing her sight, next time someone might not be so lucky.”