Teens are burning themselves with the 'deodorant challenge' and OMG why?!

I can totally get behind healthy challenges (what up, plank-a-day?). The same goes for challenges for a good cause (I see you, Ice Bucket Challenge).

But my challenge threshold stops at crazy-dangerous or why on earth would you do that? levels. A.k.a. the newest challenge among the youths: the "Deodorant Challenge."

Wait... What is the Deodorant Challenge?

It involves spraying an aerosol deodorant on your skin for as long as possible. If it sounds painful, that's because it definitely is-and people have been blowing up social media with scary images of the burns it can cause.

ALSO READ: 5 ways to keep clean down there

One mom recently posted a viral warning on Facebook for other parents after her 10-year-old daughter got severe secondary burns.

"For any parents who have children, please, please sit them down and show them these pictures," British mom Jamie Prescott said in the post. The pictures show her daughter's arm three weeks after attempting the challenge. Jamie says her daughter still might need a skin graft.

(See the photos below-they're guaranteed to scare any potential Deodorant Challenge participants straight.)

How long has the Deodorant Challenge been a thing?

This may seem like a new, totally unhinged trend, but people have been inappropriately playing around with aerosol deodorant for years (don't ask me why, IDK).

USA Today pointed out a 2010 study in the journal Pediatrics, which covered the case studies of two people who got first-degree cold burns from deodorant sprays when sprays lasted 15 seconds. Another 2009 study, this time in the journal Burns, reported on seven patients treated at an Australian hospital with cryogenic burns from aerosol deodorant.

So...do all aerosol deodorants cause this kind of burning?

The good news: If you’re a fan of these products, you don't have to stop using yours out of fears of pit burns. “When used properly, aerosol deodorants and antiperspirants are safe,” says New York City dermatologist Joshua Zeichner, M.D.

While aerosol deodorants aren’t the same as, say, stick, roll-on, or spritz deodorants, it's not the deodorant itself that’s the problem. “The can contains antiperspirant as well as a combination of gasses known as propellants that help move the antiperspirant out of the can,” says Zeichner. He says the propellants cause a "cooling effect" than can irritate the skin if exposed to them for too long. This is what most likely caused a chemical burn on the skin, he says.

Bottom line: Use deodorant only as intended-on your underarms to keep B.O. at bay.