A MUM has shared photos of her young daughter who lost an eye after a vape exploded.
Ruby Grainger, seven, had gone to buy an ice cream and while walking home past a bonfire a battery exploded, shooting acid into her face and right eye.
The youngster was rushed to Tallaght Hospital, Dublin, by ambulance before being transferred to the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital on October 5.
Her family was told that doctors had removed her eye during an emergency operation.
Ruby’s mum Ciara, 32, told the Mirror: “She was walking across to the van and when she was coming back bang, something exploded in her face.
“All I hear is screaming, she was hysterical, when she got to the house I could have collapsed.
“The blood was rushing all down her face, I put her to my chest and rang the ambulance, I was frantic.”
Ciara added: “Doctors said that this is the first case of this kind of damage from a fire, they have seen explosions but to lose her whole eye, the socket, everything.
”I do not think it has properly hit me that the child has no eye now.
”For a split second her whole life changed, and mine too, when she lost her eye I lost mine.
“If I could give her mine I would. I would give everything for her, she is only seven, and this never should have happened to her. I cannot believe it.”
The mum-of-four said medics believe the damage was caused by battery acid as ”the eyeball was like mashed potato”.
Ruby did not feel anything hit her eye and reports say the type of damage done would not be caused by a physical object.
Following the accident, a member of the family checked where the fire was and found remnants of several burnt-out vapes.
Ciara has now set up a fundraiser for Ruby, who needs to have a prosthetic eye fitted.
The mum wrote on the GoFundMe page: “Ruby now has to get a prosthetic eye which is going to be hard to get used to for a 7 year old.
VAPING has been touted as an effective tool to help people quit smoking.
Though vaping is substantially less harmful than smoking, the habit isn’t completely harmless and comes with its own set of risks.
The NHS only recommends it for adult smokers, to support quitting smoking.
GP and author Dr Philippa Kaye explained to The Sun that the differences between vaping and smoking – and whether one is better than the other – is “complicated”.
“In a nutshell, vaping is better than smoking, but breathing air is better than vaping at all.”
Vaping exposes users to far fewer toxins – and at lower levels – than smoking cigarettes.
Switching to vaping significantly reduces your exposure to toxins that can cause cancer, lung disease, and diseases of the heart and circulation like heart attack and stroke.
These diseases are not caused by nicotine, which is relatively harmless to health. But research has still linked vaping to a higher risk of failure and lung disease.
Health risks of cigarettes
Health risks of vaping
Read more on how vaping can affect your health here.
Sources: NHS, CDC
“Ruby is going to have to experience very big changes in life for a child her age.
“Some of which are, Ruby will have to change schools because of losing her right eye she will have to go to a vision impaired school, Ruby will also never be able to go to play like she used to, Ruby also has to learn to balance again due to having a blind side, and the biggest one is Ruby is no longer able to see out of her right eye.”
Doctors are hopeful her eye socket will have healed enough in six weeks so she can undergo the operation.
