A seven-year-old from Festus, Missouri, suffered severe third-degree burns and was left in a coma after a NeeDoh cube, a popular squishy toy, exploded in her face. According to the New York Post, Scarlett Selby had reportedly seen a TikTok video of people freezing and then microwaving the toy to make it more malleable and attempted to replicate the process. However, when she removed the toy from the microwave, it exploded, covering her face and chest with scorching hot material.
Josh Selby, Scarlett’s 44-year-old father, was alerted by his daughter’s “blood-curdling scream” and rushed to her aid. He desperately tried to remove the sticky, scorching substance from her skin and clothes. She was rushed to the hospital, where doctors induced a coma due to concerns that the burns on her mouth could cause her airways to swell and close.
“It all happened so quickly. I heard her scream, and it was like a blood-curdling scream,” the girl’s father Josh Selby said.
“She’d frozen the NeeDoh cube the night before and the next day she showed me it was rock solid and was playing with it. She stuck it in the microwave. I was watching her and saw her touch it to check it wasn’t too hot when she pulled it out,” he added.
Five months after the October 1 incident, Scarlett remains anxious about her recovery, awaiting news on whether she’ll require skin grafts for her second and third-degree burns. According to her mother, Amanda Blakenship, Scarlett had seen online videos of people microwaving the toy and wanted to try it herself.
“After consulting with the doctors we’re going to give her a couple of years, maybe until she’s around 12, to see how her body grows and depending on if the scar stretches out and grows with her, We’re still putting creams and silicon ointments on it daily — they’re such profound scars that stick up off of her skin,” said her mom, who works as a hairdresser.
“She gets very self-conscious and I’ll see her trying to cover her scar up with her shirt when we’re out in public sometimes, or she’ll come home from school and say another kid asked her about it. I tell her she doesn’t need to be embarrassed about it. She went through a lot and it was a terrible, terrible accident,” Ms Blakenship added.
The girl’s father is now urging parents to discard their NeeDoh products following the traumatic incident. He warned that the substance inside the toy is similar to hot glue, which can cause severe burns upon explosion. Mr Selby also stressed that once the substance comes into contact with the skin, it is extremely difficult to remove. He further expressed concerns about the toy’s safety and marketing, stating that it should not be sold or promoted in its current form.
