They are one of the most popular shoes for children- especially in summer – but this mum wants parents to know some of the dangers when it comes to buying them.
Helen Wood shared a post on her Facebook page warning about the shoes after her little boy sustained “life-changing” injuries when his foot got stuck in an escalator.
The British mum said the incident happened to her five-year-old son in a Dubai hotel while they were on holidays. She wrote:
“Stanley has lost his big toe and has extensive tissue and ligament damage to the underside of his foot. He will need multiple operations to reconstruct part of his foot”
She said she wish she had known that these particular shoes were prone to danger on moving stairs:
“We were not aware that these shoes were so susceptible to being dragged into escalators, but since the accident has taken place, we have found online reports of child injuries dating back to 2007”
“Our holiday turned into a nightmare and it all happened so quickly giving us hardly any time to react. We thought wearing these soft closed rubber sandals was safer for kids as it protected the feet. However, when Stanley lost his toe, we realised that we are not the only parents dealing with this and there have been several lawsuits against a famous company that produces these colourful, soft rubber sandals that kids love so much.”
Plastic surgeon, Dr Mohan Rangaswamy, said the toe was so mangled it could not be reattached.
A study in 2010 published in The Journal of Paediatric Orthopedics looked into the dramatic spike in escalator-related food injuries in kids. The authors wrote:
“Trendy, bright-colored rubber clogs have been implicated in a significant number of these incidents involving children”
