WARNING: Graphic, Chinese Walmart flip-flops chemically burn

[spotbird]

feet. This poor girl has been through the ringer. She should also be featured in Sicko the Sequel.

It started out bad:



Then it apparently got infected:



Her blog about her ordeal, and Walmart's reaction is incredible.

[northzax]

1. so let me get this straight

she was getting chemical burns from her flip flops, so SHE KEPT WEARING THEM? what the fuck is the point of that?

[Madspirit]

3. What makes you think she kept wearing them? n/t

[northzax]

7. at least two weeks, according to her website

even when her skin was blistering under the straps. from 7/3 to 7/16. she mentions on one line that 'I had to wear shoes & socks for a couple of hours so my feet are in bad shape now.' it's unclear.

[spotbird]

13. It doesn't say that

really, it doesn't.

[samplegirl]

4. how many times did she keep putting them on

before she figured red lines mimicing the straps were the cause?
I doubt that she can even touch Walmart for this.

[nolabels]

10. It took a long time load her page but the pictures tell the story well

She needs to find a personal injury lawyer like yesterday :shrug:

I wonder if there are other people that have had this problem? That is some nasty reaction to something, as a mechanic i have gotten all kinds of chemicals on my skin and never had such a thing happen :wtf:

[spotbird]

5. I've continued to wear shoes that hurt

it didn't sound unusual to me at all. I do it all the time, I did it last night as a matter of fact. She didn't keep it up after things got bad.

If she had insurance she might have received better treatment sooner, but that's a different matter.

[OzarkDem]

6. She only wore them a couple of times

for short periods of time. Her feet only tingled a little. After she stopped wearing them, it got much worse. But you probably already guessed that, right?

From her blog:

"Well, after wearing them my feet would be red and sort of tingly, but I figured that it was just because it was first flip flops of the year so my feet need to get used to them. Blabity blabity... Well I have now had this chemical burn for 11 days, (As of July 3rd) I really thought it would just go away on it's own. It is absolutely going away very well at all...this started on June 22nd 2007 and has just gotten worse basically. I have only worn those shoes 15 minutes here, half an hour there, hour there...and so on, NOT enough time to burn my feet like this!"

She also reported that she's heard from other people who experienced the same problem.

Take a moment to read her blog. No one would deliberately put themselves through this to file a claim against Walmart. I'm surprised someone from DU would suggest such a thing.

Sounds like she needs an attorney.

[northzax]

8. um, she continued to wear them as late at July 4th

as per her blog. her feet had been red and swollen, along the strap lines, for a week by then. what did she think might be causing it?

[spotbird]

9. It doesn't say that,

by the 3rd she had the burn for 11 days. It doesn't say she wore them during that time.

I'm thinking the point here is that shoes shouldn't burn ones feet. When Wally World was notified they did the company took no corrective measures. The least they could have done is offer to pay her medical bills.

[northzax]

27. It says that on the fourth

She wore other shoes that day. What are we supposed to infer from that?

[RamboLiberal]

16. Story is on the consumerist and she wrote in to defend herself

Kerry, the woman whose feet suffered some sort of burn from wearing flip flops, has written in to defend herself against the comments on Consumerist.

Kerry writes:
Hi

I am the woman that bought the flip flops that burnt my feet.

I wanted to add a comment to the people that were asking why I would keep wearing the flip flops, first of all, before I wore my flip flops for the first time I rinsed them with water, then I put them here & there for a little while each time, by the time I was sure there was a problem I set them aside & never put them on again, I tried to go to the doctor right away but have no insurance so it was hard to fine a place to go here in FL, I went as SOON AS I COULD.

As far as me trying to "get " walmart, I simply want them to make me whole, I paid for doctor visits that I would never had to go to if this hadn't happened, I just want to be made whole.

I am not to "get anyone" I was worried that there may be a problem and that little kids may be hurt & that's why I went to them in the first place.

As for my feet being ugly, I never argue that, but now they are ugly AND scarred, it left scars, permanent scars. By telling my story I hope that people will simply be careful with the things they purchase.

Thanks
Kerry Stiles

http://consumerist.com/consumer/dangerous-defects/walmart-flip-flop-woman-writes-in-to-defend-herself-280721.php

[eyeontheprize]

18. One of the blame the victim

posters at that site said she bought the same flip-flops but returned them because they bothered her feet. Her point was that it's ok for Wal Mart to sell shoes which give customers a rash and it's up to the customer to return the shoes if she doesn't like it.

Remember the good old days when companies had a responsibility to sell safe products.

[samplegirl]

2. Looks like a bad case of quitting Walmart Revenge...

not really...hope she owns a Walmart when shes done.

[piedmont]

11. Probably an allergic reaction, not chemical burn.

Hence, we're not being inundated with thousands of other such stories from all the other people who bought them.

[spotbird]

12. Too soon to say

She claims to have received email from another suffer, she also says she isn't allergic. It may be a continuum of reactions, from the way her feet looked in the beginning to nothing at all. The shoes were cheap, if someone reacted they'd just toss them. Her reaction looks like it would have been no where nearly as severe if it had not also become infected.

[Dora]

14. She said on her page that she's not allergic to latex OR rubber.

If it's an allergy, it's to a chemical that she hasn't been exposed to before. And one would have to question what chemical would be in those shoes to elicit such a severe, ongoing reaction.

She said on her page that she did find one other person who had a similar reaction to the flip-flops.

[piedmont]

19. That does not matter. It's entirely possible she developed an allergy recently.

"If it's an allergy, it's to a chemical that she hasn't been exposed to before. And one would have to question what chemical would be in those shoes to elicit such a severe, ongoing reaction."

People can develop allergies to lots of chemicals, many of which are otherwise quite harmless.

"She said on her page that she did find one other person who had a similar reaction to the flip-flops."

Yeah. One other person out of the tens of thousands who bought them. That's more like the prevalence of latex (or whatever) allergy than the number of people who we'd see if there were something inherently noxious in the rubber.

[spotbird]

21. Actually,

it's noted above that a poster on another blog also had a problem with them.

There isn't any way to know how widespread the problem was.

[piedmont]

24. Wow. 2 people out of tens of thousands. How awful. nt

[spotbird]

25. That's three people,

Two of whom are part of a very small population who happened to see the blogs. It's not as if this has had much publicity, so that's actually quite telling result.

[Coexist]

17. at the bottom of her blog, she states that if it was a reaction

it would have spread - only a burn would have a reaction only where the shoe actually touched her.

[piedmont]

20. Then she doesn't know much about latex allergy.

She should probably check out this site:

http://www.allergybegone.com/latex.html

"The most common symptom of delayed latex allergy is an itchy, red, mildly swollen rash that appears only on areas of the skin that actually touched the latex. Symptoms typically emerge 10 to 30 hours after contact. In severe cases, blisters may appear. These symptoms are usually caused not by the latex itself, but by certain chemicals added to rubber during processing. (The exact substance that causes the allergic reaction – in this case, the chemical – is called an allergen)."

[REP]

23. Not Necessarily

I have a contact latex allergy, and the welts don't spread past where contact has occurred. If the contact area is large enough, it can (and has) caused anaphalaxis, but the welts were just where the latex was and nowhere else.

[samplegirl]

15. This is what happens

when you give corporations free reign. They may pay a small price and move on. Or KILL your cats!!!

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

22. What's made in China, Stays in China. nt

[spotbird]

26. LOL, if only....nt