Shriners Children's Boston Raises Alarm About New TikTok Trend Causing Serious Scald Burns

With nearly 25% of TikTok users being children under 17, Shriners Children’s Boston physicians are working to warn parents about a new and potentially dangerous trend gaining steam on the platform. The trend, which is a video explaining how to make homemade Tanghulu, otherwise known as Chinese candied fruit, has nearly 14 million views so far and is continuing to gain interest from young viewers.

The TikTok trend demonstrates how to make at-home Tanghulu candied fruit by microwaving sugar to the melting point and then dipping skewered fruit into it. Shriners Children's Boston surgeon Colleen Ryan, M.D., said the trend is concerning because they are seeing a correlated increase in children coming in with severe burn injuries as a result of spilling hot sugar. She said she saw two patients in a two-week period alone come in as a result of this trend.

“When sugar is melted in the microwave like this, it has a high heat capacity, meaning it stores the heat energy,” said Dr. Ryan. “If spilled, it can create a severe scald burn, much like spilling hot soup, but it can cause a much deeper burn because of sugar’s properties. Kids or teens can quickly grab the pot or bowl and the hot fluid splashes, spills or splatters over them. The result is one or several small but very deep burns, often in critical areas such as the hand or the face.”

Dr. Ryan said she’s not alone in seeing these injuries. Word of mouth between her colleagues across the country and even internationally report that they are also seeing an increase in patients suffering from similar patterns of very deep scald burns after seeing it on the popular social media app.

“Our main goal is to make sure parents are aware that this is a trend your child may very well have seen on YouTube, TikTok or other social media already, or might see it soon,” said Dr. Ryan. “It can seem like a fun, harmless activity for kids to try making the treat themselves. There is an opportunity to prevent this injury if everyone is aware of this danger. Parents should be careful and make sure their children have learned proper cooking safety and take preventive measures. Many burn injuries we see at Shriners Children’s Boston are scalding injuries that come from preparing hot food or liquids, so our goal is to educate parents and kids about the potential dangers.”

Dr. Ryan wants to encourage parents to know about proper first aid if a burn occurs. She recommends that if the accident happens, immediately put 20 minutes of cool water on the part that was burned, not frozen peas. She said the cool water can prevent the burn from going deeper past the dead skin and help the injured area repair itself.

If your child receives a scald burn:

• Remove the child from the hot liquid immediately
• Remove any clothing at site of injury
• Cool the injury with cool tap water
• Do not put ice on a burn

Seek medical attention and call 911 if necessary. Once the injury has been assessed in an emergency setting, seek care at a healthcare facility with pediatric burn care expertise.