Paediatric electrical burn: outlet injury caused by steel chopstick misuse

Electrical burn in children in compared with adults is rare due to less chance of exposure to electricity. Although studies have been reported regarding pediatric electrical injury, there are no reports concerning outlet injury, especially those suffered by placing a steel chopstick as conducting material into the wall socket. Steel chopsticks are widely used for eating food in Korea. Children have sometimes injured themselves by inserting these into wall sockets (220 V). A retrospective study was conducted to obtain information about the characteristics of pediatric electrical injury resulting from steel chopstick misuse between January 1996 to June 2002. A total of 57 children with outlet injury were involved. Wounds were multiple and localized within the hand. The prevalent age was about 3 years old. The children studied with low voltage minor electrical injuries were deeply injured, had a high operation rate and remarkable sequelae, although wounds were small and localized.