PARENTS are being warned to be cautious over the latest craze of loom bands.
The warning comes as a seven-year-old boy was left temporarily blind in one eye by one of the brightly coloured plastic bands.
And other children have alarmed parents by wrapping them so tightly they have cut off circulation to fingers.
The loom band craze is currently sweeping across the UK with the brightly coloured rubber bands linked together to create bracelets, using a loom or fingers to hook them together.
Doctor Guy Clayton from the Beverley and Molescroft Surgery said parents shouldn't be alarmed but needed to be cautious.
He said: "Like any craze, parents need to take sensible precautions
"There are dangers with any toy if it gets in a child's eye.
"Young children in particular often tend to throw items at one another, which can be very dangerous.
"Personally in the East Yorkshire area I have not encountered any problems with loom bands at all, but as always, I would urge parents to supervise their children if they are playing with the items."
In Cleethorpes a boy was injured in the eye by a loom band.
Mum Carlie Lawrence, 32, says her eldest son accidentally pinged a loom bangle into seven-year-old Kyle's eye, which caused a blood clot - leaving him completely blind in his left eye and in need of treatment.
And in another incident dad Mark Lambert, 36, found one of the small loom bands wrapped around his son Brandon's fingers so tightly they had started turning black as he slept because of the lack of blood.
Luckily Mr Lambert, from Skipton, discovered the problem before any serious damage could be caused. He quickly took a picture of the incident to show his son as a warning.
Dr Clayton said: "In this instance I would advise parents not to let their children wrap the bands too tightly around their fingers, particularly if they are playing with them before bed time.
"Overall I would say the risk of loom bands causing danger is rather minimal, but like anything I would advise parents to urge on the side of caution."
