A 19-year-old woman in Washington, D.C. Sustained second-degree burns when the metal end of a mobile phone charger came into contact with her necklace while she was wearing it, according to a case study highlighted by emergency medicine physicians.
The incident, detailed in analysis published in Annals of Emergency Medicine, is part of a growing trend of injuries linked to generic mobile phone chargers. Physicians are warning that these lower-cost alternatives are less likely to undergo the rigorous safety and quality testing of chargers produced by established manufacturers like Apple.
“Generic phone chargers can cause burns or electrocutions,” said Carissa Bunke, MD, a pediatric resident physician with University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and lead author of the study. “Teens and adolescents are particularly at risk of injury due to their frequent mobile device use.”
The risks aren’t limited to direct contact with the charger. Another case cited in the analysis involved a patient who was thrown from his bed due to electric current from a charging device. Researchers point to a breakdown in insulation as a key factor in these incidents.
Testing conducted by Electrical Safety First in the United Kingdom revealed that 58 percent of generic chargers provided by Apple for evaluation failed an electric strength test, indicating compromised insulation. Underwriters Laboratories of Canada found an even higher failure rate, with 99 percent of 400 generic iPhone chargers failing the same test, and 22 samples immediately damaged during testing.
Even low-voltage devices can deliver a dangerous electrical shock if the current is sufficiently high, Dr. Bunke explained. The study emphasizes the danger of leaving chargers plugged in when not connected to a device and advises against sleeping with phones or mobile devices charging in bed.
The increasing prevalence of these injuries coincides with widespread access to portable electronic devices among young people, and a common practice of charging them overnight. Reports of such incidents are becoming more frequent, prompting concern among medical professionals.
Researchers have also documented cases of chemical burns resulting from prolonged contact between smartphone charging cubes and sweat, highlighting another potential hazard associated with mobile device use.
