My Apple Watch burn my wrist

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My burn happened almost 2 months ago. It was more or less Dec 1st. It is still not fully healed. The burn was directly under the magnetic charging part of the watch. I did not take any photos of it the first 10 days or so because I thought it would heal up within a week or so the way most burns or cuts do. I actually thought it was just an irritation at first as there wasn't really much pain associated with it. The skin at this location still feels a bit thickened but that gradually has diminished over time. I was going to show this to my doctor but due to Covid in person restrictions I have not been able to see him. I switched to my right wrist after a couple of days to facilitate healing.

Thank you for participating in the Apple Support Communities.

We want to make sure you reach the right team for help with your Apple Watch. We recommend that you contact Apple Support directly. Depending on your region, you may be able to reach them here: Get Support

Thank you for participating in the Apple Support Communities.

We want to make sure you reach the right team for help with your device. We recommend that you contact Apple Support directly. Depending on your region, you may be able to reach them here: Get Support.

Great comments. My 'Apple' burn occurred after I started wearing the watch to bed almost every night. I did not initially wear the watch in bed but after about 6 months or after I got it I started wearing it occasionally. I found the data interesting as I was not previously aware how much my heart rate dropped when I was sleeping. So at some point I started wearing it every night. I was wearing it on my left wrist. Occasionally in my sleep I sometimes end up with my left hand under my pillow. I am pretty sure that somehow this triggered the 'burn'. I think perhaps restlessness caused the watch to 'light up' and that's when I think the burn probably occurred. I had worn the watch many, many times at night with no sign of a problem until this happened. I do not know how the watch works but the effect on my wrist reminded me of the way a microwave works. It seemed to me that the watch 'cooked' an area about the size of a penny. It must have fairly deep as it stayed red and would blister up and peel and then do it again. Even now, 3 1/2 months after the burn I have a small scab in that area about 1/4" diameter.

Your comment about the contradiction of wearing it 'loose but snug' is spot on. One of the intermittent problems I have with the watch is when I am running and using the Apple run app. If the watch is not quite snug, it will not pick up my heart rate. I sometimes have to stop and pause the watch so I can tighten the strap up another notch. If it is at all loose, the vibration and impact from running causes the watch to move around on your wrist and then it will not read your heart rate bpm. When I am finished with my run, I loosen it back up as it is uncomfortably tight while running.

Yep, thats all we can surmise.. since we can't look at the source code and understand exactly under what circumstances the lights come on.. but I'm fairly sure this is light related. I have turned off the heart-rate "feature" and I don't get burns anymore. Shame that it's one of the features they make such a song and dance about.

I you look around the internet for other "sports" watches with heart rate monitors that use lights to achieve this you'll find other watch vendors have had similar issues. It's possible you and I (and all the others) are somehow sensitive to this light.. but only under specific circumstances. Maybe sweat beads somehow focus the light and thats why you never noticed it before. frankly I am just speculating... but the bottom line is.. people are affected by its, and I think Apple should alert people to it (but I guess that might make people uncertain if they want to subject themselves to it).

I agree with your comments Christian. It definitely seems related to the heart rate function. I wasn't too concerned about the burn I got at first but a sort of scab keeps coming up in the same spot. That doesn't seem natural. It is 3 1/2 months since my burn first popped up (about Dec 1st) and it is still not back to normal. it seems to heal and I think all is well and then another scab or peeling skin area pops up. I attributed mine to wearing it at night. I switched it from my left to the right hand wanting to let it fully heal and still have it on my right wrist. I have not experienced any problems on my right wrist.

Thanks for the suggestion. I do plan to show this to my doctor. I have a series of photos that I have taken over the last 3 months since the burn first occurred. I plan to show those to my doctor.

I moved the watch from my left to my right wrist right away when the blister first appeared (Dec 1st),. The original spot has continued to flare up on my left wrist periodically despite now wearing the watch there at all since it first formed. That's why I think the damage was not just skin deep. I believe it extended below the skin. If it was just skin, I don't believe it would keep re-forming. I have not any issues with it on my right wrist so far but I am watching carefully.

Sounds exactly like my burn. I agree with you. It is not due to not cleaning the watch. I am convinced that it is related to the magnetic charging mechanism in the watch. I think for some reason mine lit up as it does when you want to see the display and it stayed lit longer than it should have while I was asleep and for some reason that caused the burn.

I did get an email from Apple.. (an automated one)...

Thank you for contacting Apple

Your email is important to us and we look forward to helping you with your query

....

Didn't hear anything back after that.

So they know about this, and I am sure they have people looking at these chats too.

If this comes back to bite them, they'll only have themselves to blame.

This morning after exercising at a gym, I took the watch off to take a shower. When I got out of the shower the four green lights on the back of the watch were lit. They stayed lit for some several minutes after that. I don't know how long the lights were lit but I am pretty sure it was at least 10 minutes. I believe this is what happened when my wrist was burned several months ago. I suspect that there is some sort of energy released when these lights stay on and that this in some way 'cooked' a spot about the size of a penny on my wrist. This happened about Dec 2nd and there is still a scab on my wrist now March 27th.

I’d be interested to know what they tell you. They gave me some flimflam about contaminants and possible allergy to the materials the watch is made out of. If it is indeed these lights as I deeply suspect it is, I’d like to know.

I am going to wait until Monday to call them. No way it is contaminants. I clean the back of it often. No way it could be allergies either as they do not 'come and go'. In this case it was off my wrist while I showered and just lay there on the table 'lit up'. And it stayed on at least 10 minutes. It was probably lit longer than that but I don't know when it first 'lit' as apparently it started when I was in the shower. I am reluctant to wear it now as if it stayed 'lit' for any significant amount of time I think it would burn me again. I will post what they tell me.

Christian, I finally called Apple Support. They took my comments seriously and asked me to take a series of photos of my wrist with and without wearing the watch and also photos from different angles of the watch itself. They also asked me to forward any photos I had of the burn itself and any medical records I had. Three to four weeks ago another spot popped up on my wrist and did not go away. This was a smaller spot about 1/4" diameter in the same location as the original burn which was about the size of a penny. I finally realized it was some sort of skin condition when it persisted. I showed to my doctor and they burned it off with liquid nitrogen. I still have a scab on my wrist from the liquid nitrogen. They said they will mail me a box to ship the watch back to them. I should add that part of the need to ship the watch back is a problem with updating the software. I have been unable to update the software for a few months.