Imagine undergoing surgery and suddenly your face is on fire. INSIDE EDITION reports on surgical fires that have left some patients scarred for life.
A woman lies in a hospital bed bandaged and crying in excruciating pain.
Kim Grice suffered horrific burns after her face literally caught fire, peeling her skin off. Incredibly, it happened while undergoing surgery.
The pretty 29 year old mother of three had gone in for routine outpatient surgery. While on the operating table something went terribly wrong.
Grice told INSIDE EDITION, "When I woke up my whole family around me saying, ‘Don't panic. Don"t panic. Your face caught fire.' "
Grice's mother, Ann fought back tears as she comforted her daughter.
"They told me that there had been an explosiong," said Ann.
Surgical fires been dramatized on television's Grey's Anatomy. But it is a real life risk that many patients like Grice are unaware of.
Experts say 650 surgical fires occur in the U.S. each year. They can happen inside any operating room. Often it's the result of three elements coming together: heat, fuel, and oxygen.
An INSIDE EDITION demonstration showed how flames can quickly engulf the entire face.
"All this [motioning to her forehead] was gone. Her skin was pure white. Her hair burned," said Ann.
Grice was airlifted to a burn unit at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, where she is being treated for 2nd degree burns.
Grice now faces the real possibility that she'll be permanently disfigured, and she hopes this doesn't happen to anyone else.
