Loom band warning: Schoolboy blinded in one eye while playing with latest playground craze

A mother issue has issued a stark warning to parents, after her son was blinded in one eye - by a loom band.

Carlie Lawrence, 32, was sitting with her children making bracelets with the popular loom bands, when her eldest son accidentally pinged a bangle into his seven-year-old brother Kyle's eye.

The accident caused a blood clot - leaving him completely blind in his left eye - and he is now awaiting surgery in a bid to restore his eyesight.

His ordeal emerged after a doctor took to a Facebook group to warn parents over the dangers of the latest playground craze.

Carlie said: ‘I will never have them in the house again. I emailed the company about changing the labelling to warn people but they haven't got back to me.

‘There should be a warning on the packet - children shouldn't be doing the stretching.

‘It's terrible that this has happened. I've had other parents come forward and say that something similar has happened, but not as bad.’

Mum-of-six Carlie, from Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, sat with her children playing with the bands at the end of May.

They were making bands known as 'rainbow loom sandals', which feature a band around the ankle with a strap which hooks around a toe.

One of them needed stretching to fit but as her eldest son pulled it, the band slipped from his fingers and shot into Kyle's eye.

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Carlie, a carer, said: ‘He was screaming in pain and I have never heard him scream before. He started being violently sick.

‘I couldn't go near Kyle after it happened, my husband had to deal with it. I was so scared.

‘We had to take Kyle out of the room to try and calm him down.’

He was rushed to A&E, where he was examined before being sent home the same night with eye drops.

But Carlie was forced to take the schoolboy back to hospital after he continued being sick during the night.

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An eye expert said he should never have been sent home and admitted Kyle for six days in hospital, and a further week's bed rest.

He is currently back at school but is unable to take part in any outdoor activities.