Aaleyah Kent, 21, bought the adhesive from Primark in Nuneaton, Warwickshire
A style-conscious young woman has claimed she suffered third-degree burns after spilling £1.50 nail glue on her leggings.
Aaleyah Kent bought the adhesive, which she had used before without incident, from Primark in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
But the 21-year-old claims that she was left screaming in agony after accidentally knocking the bottle of glue off her coffee table and on to her left leg.
She says that there was a plume of smoke as the adhesive burned through the fabric of her cotton leggings.
Now, six months after the accident, she claims that she still has to dress the two wounds she was left with and fears she will be ‘scarred for life’.
She said: ‘When it happened I screamed the house down.
‘My left calf was sizzling and there was smoke everywhere. The material on the legging immediately melted away.
‘My leg started to blister instantly. The glue was burning and eating away at my skin.
‘It was instant pain.
‘I’ve got some on my hands before. It’s usually dried and can just be peeled off. It’s never burned like that.
‘I bought this particular bottle of glue in June, having just got back from holiday in Spain, as my nails looked atrocious.
The 21-year-old claims that she was left screaming in agony after accidentally knocking the bottle of glue off her coffee table and on to her left leg which caused two burn injuries
Now, six months after the accident, she says that she still has to dress the wounds and now fears that she will be ‘scarred for life’
‘I was holding the bottle in my hand and as I went to put it down on the table it fell and spilled on to it, then on to my sofa and my left legging, which it burned straight through.
‘There were two patches, one big one which was about two inches by two inches and a smaller one about an inch long.
‘But it was strange, because it burned through some of material, yet another patch where it had spilled was fine and didn’t burn through.
‘It went all over the sofa and the sofa started smoking, too. There is now a big hard patch where it spilled.
‘I had to cut my leggings off, because they were sticking to the burn and then used a cold compress on the wound before bandaging it.’
Aaleyah said that the area had swelled to twice its usual size which left her in so much pain that she took the day off from her job as a complaint’s handler.
She added: ‘Then a few days later they opened up and started to pus.
‘One of the burns was healing over but the larger one was an open wound.
‘It started to bleed and pus, and was still really painful. It was like it was eating away at itself.
‘I was getting a shooting, burning pain, so I went to A&E.
‘The doctor told me I had second and third-degree burns. They dressed my leg properly and for a couple of months, I was returning to the doctors once a week to get the dressing redone.
‘Twice I have returned to the George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton because the wound got infected. It went red and started to leak pus.
‘My leg started to swell, too. It swelled to twice the size.’
Aaleyah said that the adhesive also spilled over the sofa, which started to smoke as well, before it left a hard patch on the fabric
Doctors at the hospital dressed the burns with a special copper lined dressing used to treat burn injuries.
Aaleyah said: ‘The doctors at the hospital did discuss whether I would need a skin graft but because the wound is on the surface and relatively small I don’t think I will have to.
‘I still wear a dressing because if I don’t it will stick to my clothing and I can’t wear jeans because I can feel the pressure on it.
‘I’m still having regular check-ups at the doctors, too, because it does not seem to be going away and I have a special silver and copper dressing which is meant to help with third-degree burns.
‘The chemicals have caused the glue to eat away at my skin.
‘And if I have a bath I have to stick my leg out so it doesn’t get wet because if it does it will go straight back to be infected, the doctors said.
‘The injury is in an awkward position because it’s on my calf so this is really difficult when trying to wash.
‘I couldn’t expose it to the sun during the summer either because the wound was exposed and it would burn.’
Aaleyah said she complained to Primark by filling in an online form a few weeks after the incident but did not receive a response
Aaleyah said she complained to Primark by filling in an online form a few weeks after the incident but did not receive a response.
She added: ‘I didn’t hear anything back but I didn’t pursue it any further because I thought it was my fault.
‘There was a warning on the packaging saying that it was flammable and it was my error that caused it to fall. I should have been more careful.
‘But I also think the product must be very poor quality if it can do damage like that. I would never have expected that to happen and it has not happened with other nail glues.
‘The warning is at the bottom on the actual product after you read through other text, so perhaps they could make it clearer, especially as children use this product.
‘I just want people to be aware of how dangerous it can be, of the damage it can cause and to make sure they are really careful when using it.
‘I certainly didn’t imagine my injury would still look so bad six months after the accident. It’s really worrying.
‘My doctor said it will never heal 100 per cent so I’m worried I will be scarred for life.’
A spokesman for Primark said the company had not received any form of complaint from Aaleyah but added: ‘We were very sorry to learn of this customer’s experience and ask her to get in touch with us so we can investigate her complaint.
‘We take the safety of our customers and the quality of our products very seriously.
‘This nail glue complies fully with EU standards for safety, quality and product labelling.
‘The glue is made of two ingredients which are both commonly used in similar products sold by retailers across the high street.
‘The ingredients are listed on the product packaging alongside the required warnings about skin contact.’