Eight people trying the "boiling water challenge" during the frigid Midwest temperatures the week of Jan. 27 were treated at Loyola Medicine's burn center in Maywood, Ill., according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The challenge involves people going outside and flinging boiling water in the air to watch it turn to steam.
"We strongly warn people to not perform the boiling water challenge," said Loyola burn surgeon Arthur Sanford, MD. "There is no safe way to do it."
The Loyola patients range in age from 3 to 53, a hospital spokesperson said.