Scented candles are perfect for making your home smell great and creating an ambience, but they can also be a dangerous in many ways. The open flame is a potential fire hazard and the soot can cause health complications, but it's rare that a candle causes facial burns. We all know that auto accidents can happen, but I would never see the danger in a candle. I burn them all the time.
Unfortunately, 29-year-old Ashley Brawley learned about this in the most painful way.
On July 23, the Texas mom lit a Bath and Body Works Vanilla Bean Noel Candle to fill her home with the fragrance, but little did she know that just a few hours later this would land her in the hospital.
About three and a half hours after lighting the three wick candle, Ashley smelled something burning in her living room. She discovered the candle's flames were burning higher than usual - about 5 or 6 inches above the jar top. So as most of us would do, she proceeded to blow out the candle, but instead of turning off, "a huge flame engulfed her face and hot waxed splashed all over her face," Cody Brawley, Ashley's husband wrote on Facebook.
In the video of the incident, Ashley can be heard screaming for her husband before running out of frame. Apparently, when she looked into the mirror her face had turned reddish-purple, the left side of her nose was badly burned and her lips were white.
Click on the next page to see the video of the incident and find out how Ashley is doing.
"A fire ball shot back up in my face," Ashley recalled the incident that severely burned her face. "It hurt really bad."
Cody used oven mitts to get rid of the candle, but the flames burned higher and the glass jar eventually exploded.
As for Ashley's burns, she went to the emergency room after home remedies failed to soothe her injuries. Doctors told her she had first and second degree burns and used cooling patches as well as morphine to alleviate the excruciating pain.
Posted by Cody Brawley on Sunday, July 23, 2017
It's been a little over a week since Ashley's freak accident and she's on the road to recovery.
"I was super, super raw for a couple of days, and my face is still splotchy red in some areas. But now my skin is starting to grow over," she told Cosmopolitan.com.
The Brawleys reported the incident to Bath and Body Works and the company gave them a $25 gift card and offered to pay for Ashley's medical expenses.
"Our offer of reimbursement for the cost of the product is in no way meant to be compensation for her experience," Tammy Roberts Myers, vice president of communications at L Brands, Bath and Body Work's parent company, wrote in a statement. "We are very sorry that this happened and are taking this situation extremely seriously. The safety of our customers is our number-one priority...We hope to work with the Brawleys to gather additional details and are committed to doing what's right."
The couple also shared the story on their social media pages to warn others of the dangers of over burning candles and improper handling.
"It was kind of a freak thing," she said, "but people just need to be aware."
Ashley Brawley is in the Emergency room. She had a candle from Bath and Body works going. It had three wicks and was a...
Posted by Cody Brawley on Sunday, July 23, 2017
To ensure you Ashley's experience doesn't happen to you, make sure to never leave a burning candle unattended, always trim wicks to 1/4 inch and don't burn candles for more than 3 to 4 hours at a time. It's also a good practice to extinguish the flame with a fire-resistant lid, instead of blowing it out.
[H/T: Cosmopolitan]
