WARNING: Metal Face Mask Burns Patient's Face After Using MRI

Ever since COVID-19 introduced itself to the whole planet, health authorities commanded everyone to avail face masks and put them on (if possible) wherever they may go. 

World Health Organization (WHO) reports that masks should be worn by people who will dive into crowded places, and in rooms with poor and unknown ventilation. Various kinds of face masks were introduced by the market, such as the ones with metals as nose pieces. 

Recently, the United States Food and Drug Association (FDA) received a report that a patient's face was burned because of the metal in a face mask during a Magnetic Resonance Imaging exam (MRI). The report led the federal agency to result in giving a warning to patients and healthcare providers. 

The FDA stresses in their release that Face Masks (non-surgical masks), surgical masks, and other respirators such as N95 filtering facepiece respirators without exhalation valves may aid assistance in the slower spread of SARS-CoV-2 that pass from person to person in the form of respiratory droplets.  

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Why metal face mask is a hazard

(Photo : Chip Somodevilla )

A patient doing an MRI in a hospital was recently physically hurt on his face after using a metal face mask inside the machine. 

According to ABC4 News, an MRI works by utilizing a combination of strong magnets and radio waves that creates a picture of the inside of an individual's body. They added that the pictures aid healthcare providers find out injury or disease and monitor medical treatments. 

Stanford Medicine adds that the existence of metals during an MRI scan can be a serious problem because magnetic metals can experience a force in the scanner and long wires - such as those present in pacemakers - can cause induced currents and heating from the Radio Frequency magnetic field. 

FDA adds in their report that some face masks have nanoparticles, antimicrobial coating, and metals like silver and copper that can result in induced heating that can harm the patient that is why it is obligatory to be removed before the exam. 

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What happened to the Patient?

FDA furthers in their release that the patient has a burn consistent with the shape of the mask. 

They added that burns in the patients during an MRI exam are a known issue even before.

With the heightened use of face masks with metals during the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal agency aims that the patients and healthcare providers will be aware of the potential risks of burn during the diagnostic exam. 

What should be done?

Aside from the federal agency expediting their efforts in reminding both medical specialists and patients, the FDA says to New York Post that healthcare provides must confirm that the patient's face mask has no metal before an MRI exam.

The agency continues in ABC4 News that if ever the presence of metal cannot be detected or identified, an alternative face mask safe for the diagnostic test should be provided by the medical experts to their patients. 

ABC4 News stresses that if ever the patient experiences hostile burns while wearing a face mask during an exam, the healthcare provider is obliged to report the event to the federal agency. They also note that the report together with the data from other sources will make available information that progresses to a patient's safety. 

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