Yikes, I'm never going to wear new flip flops ever again. I hope she contacts a doctor and a good lawyer.

I just look at the last picture. I think I am gonna throw up ...and it is not because of the burns.

Wow that is just disgusting.

Queue China haters, Wal-Mart haters, "that's what you get when..." and "you should have known better than..." comments in 3...2...1...

I'm not questioning the effects of something, obviously, but maybe she should seek out a dermatologist. Perhaps she's alergic to something she used to clean the flipflops with. If she hasn't cleaned them, then there's no telling what she's come in contact with either. Also, there's the chance that she's alergic to the dyes used to color the straps.

Well it can't possibly be wallymart's fault. I mean look at the caring and thoughtful way they handled it. And @EtherealStrife: I have good reasons for hating wallyworld, not the least of which is that they are costing Americans jobs.

Burns aside, those are some ugly dogs. I don't blame the manager for averting his eyes.

As for her claim, not at all sure why she decided to keep wearing the thongs.

Yeah, why in the world would she keep wearing them, even if it was just for "1/2 an hour here, or 15 minutes there".

From the alignment of big toes, it looks like she NEEDS to be wearing flip-flops. It probably took YEARS in the wrong shoes to produce that.

I'm an MD.

That's not a chemical burn. That's allergic contact dermatitis. Of course it's not gonna go away even after 11 days, because you keep wearing them. Stop putting them on, and it'll go away.

Consult a dermatologist and he/she will say the same thing.

Here's a link to the American Academy of Dermatology: [www.aad.org]

Money Quote:
"What Allergic Contact Dermatitis Looks Like:

In initial (acute) severe cases such as poison ivy, the skin gets red, itchy, swollen, and develops tiny blisters, which may break and leave crusts and scales. The skin becomes thick, red, and scaly with long-term (chronic) exposure to an allergen. Later the skin may darken and become leathery and cracked."

I asked myself what I would do if this happened to me. I don't think I would complain to Walmart. These shoes are going to be in Walmart, Target, Sears etc so why would it matter what Walmart does? I would have gone straight to the company that makes them and it would be up to them to recall their product. It just seems like that would be the logical progression. I mean think about it. If a customer came into ShopRite and said they bought a box of Lucky Charms and got sick a month later, do you really think you'd take down every box of Lucky Charms off the shelf?

i just threw up in my mouth a little. . .
now who should i sue -- walmart, china, or this womans feet?

answer : ALL THREE FTW!!!

Looks like she might have excema due to an allergic reaction to something in the rubber. Not that uncommon. Walmart is no more liable than a pet store is for selling a cat that makes you sneeze.

If she throws away the flip-flops and starts applying lots of moisturizer and topical hydrocortisone, it'll probably go away. And if that doesn't help, a dermotologist shouldn't have any trouble figuring out what will.

Oftentimes, after discovering something hurts me, I will continue doing it just to show it who's boss.

Although it's a horrible thing to have happen in the first place, it seems strange to me that this woman's first priority was to start fighting with Wal-Mart, rather than getting herself to a doctor ASAP.

How does she know that they're chemical burns, rather than some individual reaction? Just because you've never had an allergic reaction to a substance before doesn't mean it can't happen. And even if it is something widespread with the shoes, Wal-Mart is probably going to want more than a random 'chemical burns' declaration from a woman who hasn't even seen a professional about it yet.

I know plenty of people are allergic to latex - it seems like a similar reaction here. And just because this is the first time it has happened to her doesn't mean it's a chemical burn, allergies develop receed throughout life. My suggestion his to get herself to her damn doctor for an actual diagnosis and then decide whether to go after wal-mart for selling Death Shoes.

@formergr: It says in the first paragraph "I figured that it was just because it was first flip flops of the year so my feet need to get used to them". She probably thought it was the pressure of the straps causing the redness and tingling. She didn't realize it was a chemical burn until later.

@Harlan: That's not the worst picture of her feet. On her site the wounds are weeping in the last few photos.

@Kierst_thara: She's been to a doctor who told her it's "definitely from the flip flops". She also got an e-mail from someone who says it happened to them so it might not just be her.

As a law student, I can tell you that Walmart is liable for this. Get an attorney. Strict Products Liability tells us that the manufacturer and the dealer are both liable when the product has entered the stream of commerce in a defective condition. I doubt that Walmart added this chemical to the sandals, so obviously it entered commerce in a defective state. Your state may have adopted a different rule, but it's a good general statement of the law! Check it out. OK, bar exam is in a few days...gotta go.

Walmart gave me chlamydia.

Ow, it hurts to look at those photos. At first I thought it would be localized redness, like a 1st-degree burn. But no.

I saw those flip-flops at Wallyworld. Ended up going with different ones, and didn't have any problems, fortunately.

Sadly, given WalMart's track record in pulling recalled items from the shelves, I don't think anything is going to happen.

C'mon, if you're gonna shop at WalMart, you should expect to get chemical burns and permanent scarring. You get what you pay for!

@Harlan: I agree -- as someone who developed contact dermatitis to mangoes (mangoes, for chrissakes), and who is now sensitive to freakin' everything, that looks an awful lot like a severe case of eczema or contact dermatitis to me. I am not a dermatologist or immunologist, but it's likely that she wasn't previously allergic, and now is (it can happen any time, a fact she doesn't appear aware of).

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the precipitating factor was the chafing of the rubber on the top of her feet. That could have irritated the skin enough to cause sensitization, which turned into an allergic reaction.

Bottom line: her ridiculous clinic visit (um, sorry? "It's your shoes" is not a diagnosis) needs to be followed up with a visit to a dermatologist. I suspect topical corticosteroids and careful avoidance of latex are all she needs to make this go away. Sucks to get sensitized to a common material, though.

If she really wants to proceed with any sort of (worthless, ridiculous) lawsuit, she'll need to have a good dermatologist look at her feet anyway (not to mention having the flip flops tested). Oh, but she's too poor to go to a dermatologist (but not too poor to hire an attorney, sadly).

@EtherealStrife: the haters took longer than expected to show up. I thought there would be 10 comments at most between your's and one like that.

Did she pay a doctor to say "it's definitely from the shoes"? Really Doc? I never would have guessed that since the irritation is localized completely in the area of where the strap to the sandals are located. That's like having a bone sticking through your skin and having a doctor say, "Yep, you have a broken bone."

Walmart has a problem if there is a nasty chemical on these shoes. But if you look for latex allergy photos, this looks a lot like those. She needs to have an allergy test done and I'm afraid the results it will let Walmart off the hook.

she went to a doc who said it was the flip flops (looking at the pic I would not need a medical degree to asses the same thing)

BTW flip flops are FUGLY. people do not want to see your deformed/ugly/hairy feet!

why would anyone want to wear "shoes" that only separate your feet with dirty cement with only a half inch of rubber YUCK! Half the time I see people wearing these horrible things, their feet are half on the ground other half on the flip flop. (I hope they all step on glass)

doest statue of limitations occur when you first realize theres a problem?

And the fact that they flat out don't care and are just worried about their bottom line again.

@Rectilinear Propagation: did you think I was being serious?

@jdelamater: Giving out law advice before the bar? Tisk tisk. I expected "This does not constitute legal advice" at the top, not "I'm a law student so do the following."

And maybe I'm missing it here, but WHY WOULD YOU KEEP WEARING THE SHOES? I shudder to think what happens if she figured out that pepper spray actually hurts, or that a nail through the palm will bleed…that idiocy has nothing to do with Walmart.

And the last time I went to a doctor with a broken bone/torn ligaments/major damage, they didn't say "yep, it was the car accident" and leave it at that. She should get a real diagnosis and take it from there. "It was definitely the shoes" doesn't cut it.

Sounds like a case of good intentions, bad execution.

I want to know if her diagnosis of "chemical burn" came from a board-certified physician, or whether she deduced that from her tenure at Walmart. My guess is she hasn't gone to the doctor, since she "figured it would go away on its own", so why is she throwing around serious terms like "chemical burn"?

My point is she's got a latex allergy/contact dermatitis which would be easily resolved with some topical steroids. But she would've known that if she'd gone to the doctor.

But instead, she's flying over to Walmart, asking them to take something off the shelf that really might not deserve it.

Get yourself to a dermatologist and quit fighting with Walmart.

@Steve518: Nope. I got the sarcasm. I just really did think a post like that, serious or silly, would have shown up faster.

@pinkbunnyslippers: Your guess would be wrong.

@enm4r: Who said she's still wearing the shoes? She said she only wore them for short periods before realizing the redness was something serious. She didn't say she's still wearing them. I also don't get why you're assuming she didn't get a diagnosis from the doctor.

Ok, I'm bookmarking this story to show the next person who rags on me for buying expensive shoes.

Seriously, though, I really feel for her. But why did she KEEP wearing them after she had the initial reaction?

@pinkbunnyslippers

Exactly most people have no idea that they're allergic to latex/cheap rubber until something like this happens. My initial reaction before even having seen the pictures was that she was having an allergic reaction.

Something very similar happens to me when I wear cheap flip-flops (seriously, this only happened once and I learned my lesson) or try to wear my Vans SlipOns without socks.

Get thee to a dermatologist lady, instead of a lawyer's office.

Please stop bashing her. The questions posters keep raising have all been answered by here already: the problem wasn't severe at the beginning and so she attributed it to breaking in new flip flops; she called around to get a doctor's appointment and hard a hard time finding one that would take a new patient or take her soon; the doctor, right or wrong, attributed it to a chemical burn rather than an allergy because the irritation had not spread.

Argue the accuracy of th medical information if you are in fact a doctor, but read the post before commenting and attacking.

@Rectilinear Propagation: @pinkbunnyslippers: Your guess would be wrong.
I dunno-- her description of the doctor's visit is really rich in details right up until there's talk about the diagnosis, at which point the details become really scarce.

His guess might be right.

I'm really disappointed that people are so quick to blame the victim here, obviously without having read the entire story on her site. To whit:
- She only wore the flip-flops a few times over a weekend, and then stopped when she noticed the redness/irritation.
- She went to a health clinic when the irritation did not go away quickly, within a matter of a few days (one of the really sad aspects of this story is that this woman has NO health insurance, and getting a doctor to see her has been a challenge).
- The health clinic incorrectly assumed it was a rash and gave her a "cream" to apply, which did not help.
- Her feet got worse and worse (and she was NOT wearing the shoes anymore) and she eventually was able to see another doctor, who prescribed antibiotics and steroids.

So yes, she was seeing a doctor about this, not just thinking of suing Walmart. She states repeatedly that her main concern was getting Walmart to remove the shoes from their shelves, since there is something obviously wrong with them, and she was concerned that others would be similarly hurt. And what do you know? It looks like other people have had the same problem...

I don't know this poor woman at all, I just think it's ridiculously unfair for people to jump on her case and quickly blame her for this. I would think that readers of a consumer-oriented website like The Consumerist would, I don't know, be a little more sympathetic to a fellow consumer?

Finally, an argument FOR socks with sandals.

I hope her feet heal ok and she doesn't end up with sandal strap scars.

It's almost amusing. I wondered to myself, as I clicked, if (ha - I kid! I mean WHEN) I'd discover it was a Chinese product. Paragraph four. Yay!

I guess poisoning is old hat to them. Now they're moving on to chemical warfare. Excellent!

PS: those are blaming the victim, put your money where your mouth is. From here on out, use only Chinese condoms. C'mon. Put up or shut up. Hmm?

@uberbitter:

The fact that the injury did not spread is not an indication of a chemical burn. If she is allergic to the latex, she would only see the injury around where the latex was in contact with her skin. Unless the latex entered her blood stream, there would be no reason for the reaction to spread elsewhere.

@FreakyStyley: for real. i'm glad i'm not the only one who does that.

As to the doctor saying "Its the shoes". It very obviously is the shoes. My guess is that she went to the doctor about this, he told her "its the shoes you are wearing, stop wearing them" in a clasic "Doctor it hurts when I do this" moment. As to whether he diagnised it as a burn/ dermatitis/ contact alergy, whatever we do not have that information. If it is a legit burn I hope that she gets her day in court. OTOH, it could easily be a case of her deliberately assembling "facts" to fit her version of "reality".

I only wear leather flip-flops now. I have read so many bad things about the chemicals in the plastic they use to make flip-flops, that there is no way I will let them touch me.
The effects on men are pretty bad. Some claim that plastic is making men more feminine because the plastic mimics estrogen as it is absorbed into your body. Simply touching plastic causes compounds to be absorbed into your body. This may be why more and more men have fertility problems and ED.

The same thing happened to me last year with a pair of sandels I bought from WalMart. I had them on for about 15 minutes before I felt my feet burning where it touched the straps. I took them off and never wore them again (but still have them). The tops of my feet got very red and irritated (not as bad as the ones in this story) and it took WEEKS for the red marks to go away. My friends thought I was crazy and that I just had a bad reaction to the cheap shoes.

I missed the part about her going to another doctor after the clinic visit, but it confirms my theory that it was contact dermatitis. This woman is just dangerously stupid. on her webpage she says: "I was given 10 days worth of antibiotics, and a script for steroids which I will have filled tomorrow...Holly pointed something interesting out to me, This is not a rash, it is a burn, but if this were a rash, it would have spread beyond the lines of the straps by now, so far, the only skin affected by this 'reaction' is exactly where the straps were. A rash simply does not behave this way."

Um...

1. She is accepting medical advice from "Holly" (not her doctor, who should have explained why he/she was prescribing the steroid/antibiotic combo). Contact dermatitis is usually limited to the area which was exposed to the sensitizing agent. Gosh, surprised "Holly" didn't know that.
2. Even a very limited perusal of the contraindications for topical corticosteroids would indicate that it works by impairing immune response. That is why she was prescribed antibiotics (often used in conjunction with corticosteroids to prevent infection of steroid-caused compromise of immunity). No doctor would ever prescribe steroids without diagnosing that the symptoms were from an allergic reaction/derangement of the immune system. Frankly, prescribing steroids to someone with chemical burn would be madness (shutting down the skin's immune response after having a chemical burn would make things demonstrably worse, the opposite of which is shown in her pictures, in which her feet begin to heal with the application of the cream).

Frankly, this woman was probably clearly told that this was an immune response (contact dermatitis) when she was prescribed the corticosteroids. Her continuing refusal to believe it's anything other than a chemical burn demonstrates nothing but ignorance and the desire to win the lawsuit lottery.

@Huntergreene: Only dads are allowed to do that.

@kimsama: I agree about prescribing steroids for an allergic-type reaction. But this woman states she has worn rubber/latex flip-flops before with no reaction, so we can assume at the very least that she is not normally allergic to latex. It was probably something that coated or was a part of these Chinese flip-flops that caused the reaction. Maybe the material only causes a reaction in a few people, and she's just one of the unlucky ones.

If she bought them that long ago, and there were a systematic problem with the manufacture of the sandals, it seems likely that other people would have complained by now. If she's the only one complaining, then it's difficult to see how a recall would be warranted.

That said, isn't it illegal to sell a product that isn't fit for its intended use? "Lemon laws", something like that?

What a dumb user. Once they burn take them off and never wear them again you dumbass. Don't blame Walmart blame yourself and sue the manufacture of the flip flop. Sometime people get what they deserve.

@crichardson79: Ps that lady has some nasty feet

@Groovymarlin: No, actually, you can become allergic to pretty much anything at pretty much any point in your life. All it takes is a sensitizing event (I learned this the hard way when I developed contact dermatitis to mangoes, which I had eaten for years prior to developing allergies. Sadly, I can't tolerate the urushiol in mangoes anymore, thought I used to be able to).

Unfortunately, it can happen at any time. It's always best to see a dermatologist right away whenever you develop a big reaction like this. That can help limit the freak-out your body has, and some sensitizations fade after a few years without exposure (though when she kept wearing the shoes, she probably sensitized herself for life).