Citation

Campbell H, Nizamani R, Jones SW, Williams FN. J. Burn Care Res. 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, American Burn Association, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1093/jbcr/iraa066

PMID

32353877

Abstract

The art of pyrography, burning designs in wood, dates back to prehistory. Risks of traditional techniques included cutaneous burns and airway injury. Fractal woodburning is a niche technique utilizing a high-voltage electrical source to burn branched designs into wood. While this technique has grown in popularity, the associated risks are not well understood.We describe a patient who presented to our burn center after sustaining high-voltage electrical injuries while making fractal wood art using an improvised a high-voltage transformer. During the woodburning process, he contacted the electrodes and suffered full-thickness electrical burns to the neck, chest, and bilateral upper extremities. Bilateral upper extremity fasciotomies were performed on admission. Multiple subsequent operations culminated with autografting to most of the wounds and complex reconstruction of the left thumb.

In evaluating online news reports, we found 25 unique individuals with death or injury attributed to fractal woodburning from July 2016 to January 2020. Five sustained substantial injuries, while 20 reportedly died. Ages ranged from 17 years old to the 60s. One death and one injury occurred in females, with the remainder of reports involving males. Of the survivors, 4 sustained significant upper extremity electrical injuries and 3 suffered cardiac arrest at the time of injury.

Fractal woodburning is associated with devastating high-voltage electrical injuries and death. Prevention efforts should be focused on education about the potential for death and permanently disabling injuries from this art form.

© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Burn Association. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Language: en