Boy blinded in one eye by 'deodorant bomb' craze at East Lothian's Ross High School

A teenager has been left permanently blind in one eye after copying a “craze” by bursting a deodorant can with a sharp object at school.

Jennifer Keppie revealed her son suffered life-changing injuries after he and his friends took turns attempting the trend, which involves sticking sharp objects into the aerosol container, before hitting it.

The youngster was left with a “gruesome” injury when the can exploded in the playground of Ross High School in Tranent, on Friday, January 6.

His mother took to social media to explain the consequences of the “traumatic” incident.

She wrote: “There is a ‘craze’ at the moment of making deodorant bombs, where kids are sticking sharp objects into deodorant cans and hitting them, hoping to release the gas and watch the can spin (or something to that effect).

“As kids we have all done things that were risky and dangerous without a second thought at the consequences if anything went wrong.

“Unfortunately for us, it went wrong. Jay and his friend were giving this a go and a deodorant can exploded. I won’t go into the gruesome details of it just now, but I can assure you it wasn’t pleasant to see.

“What was just a bit of fun, quickly turned to tragedy and even with four of the best ophthalmology consultants, the vision in one of Jay’s eyes could not be saved. He has been left permanently blind in one eye.

“This has been traumatic for him, and for us so I’d rather not be answering questions or PMs (private messages). I just feel as a parent, I need to share this as I cannot watch another child or family go through what we have in the last few days.

“Jay has been absolutely amazing throughout his ordeal and is honestly the strongest boy I know. I am so proud of him and his resilience.

“His life changed in a complete second and I genuinely do not want another child to find themselves in the same situation, or worse.

“So please, speak to your kids. Let them know the dangers. I always thought you only ever hear about these things and it would never happen to us, but here we are.”

An East Lothian Council spokesperson said: “Everyone at Ross High’s thoughts are with the young person affected.

“The school has spoken to all year groups about the dangers of aerosol cans and other risks to personal safety.

“The headteacher remains in close contact with the family and support is being offered to anyone who needs it.”