UV Skinz swimming

The reports, as CPSC published them

1. Emergency room

   Made Jun 14, 2019 · , sent to the company Jul 3, 2019 · , published by CPSC Jul 18, 2019

   The product, in the report: UV Skinz boys swim trunks (sold at Costco last year in a set with rash guard and hat)

   Earlier today, my family and I had a horrifying and traumatic experience with a pair of boys swim trunks made by UV Skinz which I purchased at Costco last year and which may or may not be currently sold in Costco stores.

   Today was my son’s 8th birthday, and he spent the afternoon swimming with his older brother at our community pool. The swim shorts he was wearing have a breathable mesh inner lining, and I have seen many children wearing these exact same swim shorts in my community, and can reasonably expect them to be worn all over the US where they have been sold by Costco. After several hours of swimming, he returned home and after lounging around for an hour or so, was asked to go upstairs to take a shower. I was cooking dinner when I was interrupted by his screams as he pulled down his swim trunks before heading upstairs. I ran over, and his shorts were halfway down his rear and the skin of penis (please excuse the graphic nature of this email, as I want to accurately describe what occurred) was torn and bloody, somehow tangled and swollen to the size of a small pea in a single hole in the mesh lining. As you can imagine, it was horrifying and scary—my 8-year-old was in severe pain, crying and screaming, while trying to remove his penis skin from the mesh, which only exacerbated the issue causing additional tearing of his skin and bleeding. I was trying to determine how it was stuck, meanwhile yelling for my husband’s assistance. We attempted to cut the mesh lining up to the accident site where the skin was enflamed and bloody, but my son was so hysterical that he would not hold still enough for us to do this in a safe manner. Because the shorts could not be removed with causing him further pain, we even resorted to cutting through the ties and waistband to remove what tension we could from pulling his sensitive skin even more. We were worried that we might accidentally injure him further in trying to remove the trapped penis skin from the mesh lining, so with an icepack between his legs, drove him to the emergency room. A doctor attempted several methods of trying to cut the mesh, however, due to the swelling and the pain my son was in, he was unable to safely get to the single mesh fabric outline torniqueting his foreskin. After resorting to a numbing shot in his penis, my son was able to calm down and hold still enough for the doctor to cut away the mesh, leaving his penis skin torn, cut, and bloodied.

   As you can imagine, this was traumatic and horrifying for my young son as well as for me—on the verge of tears, I carried him to the car as he could not walk without severe pain, held him the entire way to the hospital where he shook and sobbed into my arms, then I had to hold him forcefully at the emergency room as the doctor continued the attempts to try and cut his swimsuit mesh, and only after receiving the anesthetic were we able to remove his penis from the mesh. Though it is unnecessary, for documentation’s sake I will mention the vital nature of this organ and its incredibly sensitive nature, which added to his physical as well as psychological trauma. While I was still reeling from what I originally believed to be a fluke accident, I was even more shocked to hear the emergency room doctor, [REDACTED], tell me that he had seen this type of injury before. A quick search online when I returned home tonight revealed that although regarded as “rare” in at least a couple of documentations, the number of similar incidents the easily pop up indicates this is not truly the case. I mentioned that I have seen these exact shorts all around my community—at the local splash pad this last Saturday, I saw no fewer than 2 other children wearing these same shorts (in addition to both of my boys)—and though I am not a consumer rights activist by any means, I am a concerned mother, educator of children, and member of my community who believes that this important safety issue should be reviewed by your legal team and product sourcing department, so that these injuries can be prevented. Though I am extremely grateful that my son’s vital organ was not injured more seriously, I believe that it could have been worse had he yanked his shorts down harder or if they had gotten caught on something and been forcibly pulled. The emergency room bill I paid was certainly worth the effort of taking him to medical professionals to ensure that his penis was not further injured. The only documentation I took was after the (bloody) swim shorts had been cut and removed in the emergency room, but there are several nurses in addition to the doctor who can attest to the horrifying and traumatic nature of this event.

   Model

   Boys swim trunks

   Bought from

   Costco

   Bought

   Apr 1, 2018, about then

   Where

   Leander, Texas: Home/Apartment/Condominium

   Who was involved

   Age 8, Male

   The reporter’s relation to them

   My Child

   As this report names them

   Brand UV Skinz, made or sold by UV Skinz, Inc

   How badly, in CPSC’s words

   Injury, Emergency Department Treatment Received

CPSC’s disclaimer

Sources