A California teenager suffered serious injuries to his face and hands after a vaporizer exploded, burning bones and ligaments.
Fifteen-year-old Aiden Dean Adams was vaping with friends under an overpass near his Bakersfield home when the nicotine-filled device burned when he put it in his mouth, sending shrapnel into his face.
Aiden walked onto the road, his hand bloodied and mutilated, and struggled to hitch a ride with a passing driver, taking him home to his shocked parents. They called 911 and within minutes an ambulance showed up to take Aiden to the hospital.
Doctors spent hours operating on his mangled hands, including restoring his thumb, which was “almost completely severed,” and amputating part of the tips of his middle and index fingers.
The teenager had been vaping on the sly since he was ten years old. His parents found vaporizers in his room and became suspicious when he left the house for a walk.
His father, Robert Dean Adams, said he and his wife had begged Aiden not to do it because of the myriad health risks, including lung disease, heart injuries and addiction: “But I’m not ignorant – he’s a teenager.” “.
Adams said she was shocked to find her son at her front door with his hand “backwards…The digits were dangling.” When the tissue was exposed a lot, bones, fingers, hands and ligaments could be seen.’
On the way to the hospital, Mr. and Mrs. Adams thought their son might die. “What happened to him – the vaporizer explosion,” Adams said, “was never on my mind.”
After the explosion, surgeons tried to sew up his hand. His thumb was nearly amputated, the bone in his palms was exposed, and his index and middle fingers were hanging by a thread.
The explosion sent shrapnel flying into Aiden’s face. According to his father, he was an ‘ugly’ sight and his hands were ‘horrible’
Aiden’s thumb was saved, but several fingertips were not. Recovery will likely take several weeks and he will not attend school until further notice.
Aiden was known to pick up discarded vaporizers off the ground and modify them to make them work again.
This time, Aiden said he had used the vaporizer for a while and had gotten it from someone else. But he did not give more details.
Before the explosion shattered his hands, he had walked to a nearby overpass to meet his friends.
His parents said he was in a good mood before he left, compared to his usually sullen mood.
The vaporizer he used, a Geek Vape Orange Fcuking Fab Geek Bar Pulse X 25k, was not working properly.
Aiden slammed it on the ground, thinking that something inside the device was misaligned or stuck and might fall into place.
He put it in his mouth and ‘Boom!’ his father said. “One big flash is all (Aiden) remembers.”
Doctors were able to save Aiden’s thumb and reattach it, but they had to amputate the tips of his middle and index fingers on one hand.
Luckily, someone noticed the boy and picked him up. Fortunately, Aiden was still of sound mind and was able to calmly provide his address to the driver.
Adams said he had never seen a blast injury up close until the stranger helped his son through the door. Both hands were “horrible,” he said.
Mr Adams said: “The palm of his hand was just upside down.” This is the first time I have seen an explosive injury firsthand.
‘There was a lot of soft tissue damage. The digits dangled. A lot of tissue exposure could be seen bone, fingers, hand, ligaments.
‘The entire inside of his left hand was completely exposed. His thumb was almost completely cut off. From the base of the thumb to where it meets the wrist. All of that was hanging.
He added that part of Aiden’s hair had been burned off, shrapnel had gone through his face and his shirt was covered in blood.
Mrs. Adams called an ambulance while Mr. Adams wrapped her son’s hand in a towel. Meanwhile, Aiden was calm and collected the entire time, they said.
While Aiden’s outcome is expected to be positive, it will be a long road to accepting the damage caused.
The explosion burned Aiden’s chest and also his hands. When he got home, Aiden’s hair was singed, his shirt was burned, and the fabric was still burning.
The vaporizer he used, a Geek Vape Orange Fcuking Fab Geek Bar Pulse X 25k, was not working properly. He slammed it on the ground, thinking something inside the device was misaligned or stuck and might fall into place.
Aiden will recover, although it will take several weeks. The injury will put his life on hold for a while, as he will not be able to attend school until further notice.
I had recently purchased a guitar and was hoping to learn how to play it. He lost that ability.
Adams is a former smoker and “never trusted” vaporizers when they hit the mainstream in the mid-2010s. Within just a few months, the popularity of vaporizers began to surpass that of cigarettes.
About two decades ago, nearly 30 percent of teenagers smoked cigarettes. This year, it was just 1.7 percent.
Today, vaporizers are much more popular in that age group than cigarettes. According to the federal government’s 2024 Youth Tobacco Survey, 2.25 million middle and high school students were currently using any nicotine product, including cigarettes, vapes and pouches.
But health officials were actually optimistic about those findings. Figures from 2024 suggest that fewer teens are trying e-cigarettes and becoming addicted, and perhaps more teens than ever are quitting.
While 2.5 million teens used tobacco in 2024, that total was lower than the 2023 total of 2.8 million. Specifically, e-cigarette use fell significantly in that one-year period, from 2.13 million to 1.63 million.
The vaping industry has been in the government’s crosshairs for nearly a decade for targeting a young audience in its viral marketing campaigns and keeping their attention with fun, innocuous-looking packaging and flavors.
Adams said, “This came out of nowhere.” I don’t remember him ever announcing himself to other people besides seeing kids with him.
‘That’s what you see more than anyone else are the children. I never trusted these things. I don’t like them.’
He added: “But we have launched a device that can get into the hands of children and that apparently has a highly explosive possibility.” That’s what people need to know and educate about it. If they were, these things probably wouldn’t be here.