Video sharing app, TikTok, hit the headlines this week after a viral trend saw some children being hospitalised.

11-year-old Ellis Tripp was in surgery for six hours after trying to replicate a trend that has gone viral on the app and website.

He was rushed to hospital last Wednesday (19 May) where doctors found five tiny magnetic balls in his intestines and bowels.

It is feared that Ellis may have been performing a dangerous TikTok craze which sees youngsters pretend to have their tongue pierced.

The viral prank sees people place two magnetic balls either side of their tongue and wiggle it around, creating an optical illusion that their piercing is stationary.

However, this isn’t the first time that a potentially dangerous TikTok trend has made the news- and there are plenty of others that parents should be aware of.

Here are some of the dangerous trends that have circulated on the app in recent months- including those that are gaining popularity right now:

The ‘go missing’ trend

As the title suggests, this is a recent trend where youngsters go missing on purpose for 48 hours.

The aim is to see how much panic and hysteria they can cause with their disappearance.

Earlier this month, police launched a huge search for two teen girls who were reported missing in Teesside.

They were found on 17 May but social media rumours emerged that they had vanished as part of this Tik Tok trend.

However, Cleveland Police said they are not able to find evidence of a craze of this nature taking place or being currently shared.

Still, they urged parents to always remain vigilant of what could be happening on their children’s social media.

The ‘Skull Breaker’ challenge

This challenge swept through schools last February.

Videos of the 'Skull-Breaker' or 'Jump Trip Challenge' showed unsuspecting people jumping into the air before having their feet pulled away beneath them. 

Often, these videos can be hard to watch, as victims land on their heads or their spines.

Two children abroad died from the challenge.

A mother in the UK had to take her child to A&E after the accident.

Posting to Facebook, she wrote: "Please, please if you have teenagers doing TikToks, do not let them get involved in this.

"I'm sitting in [accident and emergency] with my daughter with a severe spinal injury."

Tik Tok issued a statement in March 2020 urging users to report videos containing the challenge.

The nutmeg challenge

The nutmeg challenge went viral during lockdown.

The aim was to drink a concoction of nutmeg and water in order to experience a high.

However, health experts warned that that consuming nutmeg in such large quantities can be dangerous.

According to Healthline, Myristicin is a compound found in the spice and an excessive amount can lead to organ failure.

The Filing Teeth challenge

This trend hit the headlines last September after Tik Tok users and influencers posted tutorials explaining how to file your teeth down with a nail file.

Dentists and medical experts said this can cause permanent damage to the teeth as the youngsters are actually filing away their enamel- which cannot be restored.

The full-face hot wax trend

In February, this trend hit national headlines prompting warnings from skin experts.

The videos show people’s entire faces covered in wax- which partly penetrates their ears and nose- before being removed.

Some of the clips even showed young children undergoing the wax treatment.

Speaking to a national paper, consultant dermatologist Dr Emma Wedgeworth said:"Personally I would not recommend treating children.

"There is a lot of misinformation and potentially harmful DIY beauty practices on TikTok and other social-media channels.

"It would be good to see these more tightly regulated."

Blackout challenge

Also known as ‘scarfing’ or ‘the choking game’, this challenge has potentially deadly consequences as it encourages people to choke themselves.

A child in Italy died earlier this year after taking part in the ‘blackout challenge’ on the video-sharing network.

The girl’s parents told La Repubblica newspaper that another daughter explained that her sister “was playing the blackout game”.

“We didn’t know anything,” the girl’s father told the paper.

“We didn’t know she was participating in this game. We knew that (our daughter) went on TikTok for dances, to look at videos. How could I imagine this atrocity?” he said.

In April, a 12-year-old boy from Colorado died after spending a month on life support machines after taking park in the ‘challenge’.