DIY slime project brutally burns 11-year-old girl, family says

close

Video

Doctors warn about dangers of homemade 'slime'

Homemade concoction of glue, food coloring and borax is all the rage in the preteen set; but parents in Massachusetts claim their daughter was hurt handling the slime

A Massachusetts family is warning others about the dangers of do-it-yourself homemade slime after their 11-year-old daughter suffered second- and third-degree burns on her hands, which doctors said is likely the result of prolonged exposure to one of the recipe’s key ingredients. Kathleen Quinn, who at one point was making the slime on a daily basis, suffered the injury while staying over at a friend’s house, WCVB reported.

“It felt really hot and tingly,” Quinn, of Rockland, told WCVB.

Quinn’s mother, Siobhan, said by the time they picked the girl up from her friend’s house the following morning, she was crying in pain and her hands were covered in blisters.

“I feel terrible,” Siobhan told the news outlet. “I feel like the worst mother.”

The Quinns had encouraged their daughter to make the slime seeing it as a welcome distraction to social media and other technology that pre-teens are typically consumed with, WCVB reported.

“I thought it was great,” Siobhan told WCVB. “I encouraged it, bought all the stuff and when they were gone I bought more. She was being a little scientist.”

But Quinn’s creations included Borax One as a key ingredient, which doctors believe are likely the cause of her injuries. She was rushed to the hospital where doctors diagnosed her blistered hands with second- and third-degree burns.

“You just have to really read the packages and know what you’re mixing because there are certain things in the home that are just dangerous,” Dr. Megan Hannon, a physician at South Shore Hospital, told WCVB.

Quinn, who has missed a week of school due to her bandaged hands, is expected to make a full recovery. Her message to other kids is “don’t make it, don’t play with it.”

“I’ve had other mothers say ‘Oh we’ve made it a million times, its fine nothing happened to my child,’” Siobhan told WCVB. “We made it a million times too and nothing happened.”