The makers of sports wearable the Fitbit Surge have acknowledged that the device can cause rashes with prolonged use after reports have surfaced from wearers online.
The Surge, which sells for around £200 here in the UK, features a flexible elastomer strap as used in many other premium sports watches, and with a surgical grade stainless steel buckle it can be adjusted for wearer comfort. But if you check Twitter there are a number of photos being posted showing the physical stresses of using Fitbit’s top of the range gadget, including reddened skin and blistering.
The Fitbit Surge has been designed as not only a fitness recorder, heart rate monitor and calorie counter but it can also be used as a wearable companion that syncs to over 120 leading smartphones or your computer to help in day-to-day tasks including texts notifications and music managing. If you’re using the Surge to its full potential that’s going to be a lot of daily wear and its makers say you simply need to take it off once in a while and make sure you’re looking after it correctly.
This isn’t the first time the effects of wearing Fitbit devices have been raised and previously the Force and Charge models were reported to cause irritations too and withdrawn from sale. Techcrunch has obtained and shared a statement from FitBit regarding the latest concerns which reads:
“We continue to be aware of a very limited percentage of users reporting skin irritation among our users.
The reactions we are seeing with new products are not uncommon with jewellery or wearable devices that stay in contact with the skin for extended periods. According to our consulting dermatologists, they are likely from wearing the band too tight; sweat, water, or soap being held against the skin under the device; or from pressure or friction against the skin and should resolve quickly when users take a break from the device, usually within hours or days.
We encourage anyone wearing an activity-tracking wristband to follow the guidelines we’ve developed with our team of dermatologists, to educate the public on how to wear and care for devices and keep skin happy: Keep it clean, keep it dry and give your wrist a rest.
We continue to monitor this issue, as it impacts all companies that make products worn next to the skin, particularly the wearables industry as people tend to wear devices for long periods without giving their skin a break.”
Those who are worried about any rashes caused by wearing the Fitbit Surge can view the Wear and Care advice on the Fitbit website.