I’ve been scarred for life after my hot water bottle exploded – and there’s a secret symbol everyone needs to know that will show if yours is out of date
- Laura Beeslee, 31, from Diss, Norfolk suffered after her hot water bottle exploded
- READ MORE: Parents urged to never give kids hot water bottles after ‘alarming’ spike in number suffering serious burns
A woman has been left scarred for life after her hot water bottle exploded – because she didn’t realise it was eight years out-of-date – and is now warning others to check the labels.
Laura Beeslee, 31, from Diss, Norfolk ‘felt like she was dying’ when her hot water bottle burst while tucked underneath her jeans on August 16th.
The the nursery manager was suffering with menstrual cramps when she reached for her trusty hot water bottle to help alleviate the pain.
After filling the compress with freshly boiled water, the nursery manager placed it under the waistband of her jeans.
Within ten minutes, Laura felt a strange sensation down her legs and looked down to discover the device had ruptured and its entire contents had spilled all over her.
Laura Beeslee, 31, with partner Adam Rayner, 37, who hosed her down after suffering severe burns
Screaming in agony, Laura raced to the bathroom to remove her jeans while her 37-year-old partner Adam Rayner began hosing her down.
Shocking photos show Laura’s red-raw burns that required skin grafts – and left her unable to walk.
Laura said: ‘I was on my period having pains and found medication wasn’t helping. So I thought I’d use my hot water bottle and tucked it into the top of my jeans I was wearing at the time.
‘I was standing up just tidying the work surfaces and it just burst all of a sudden. I’ve used it before and slept with it and had no issues in the past.
‘There was almost like a numbing sensation but I knew something was wrong. I looked down and could see water had gone down my legs and was all over the floor.
‘I can’t remember much else but apparently I screamed and ran to the bathroom trying to get my jeans off.
‘My partner got me in the bath and hosed me down for half an hour. I was going in and out of consciousness because the pain was so excruciating. I felt like I was going to die. It was a pain like I’d never experienced in my life’.
Adam drove Laura to their local hospital where she was then blue-lighted to the burns unit at Bloomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex, due to the severity of her injuries.
Laura was in agony when her hot water bottle left her with severe burns, requiring skin graft surgery
Laura was fast-tracked into a hospital in Essex, despite living in Norfolk as her injuries were so severe
There, Laura was placed under general anesthetic while medics popped the blisters on the worst affected areas of her thighs and stomach.
She spent the following three days in the intensive care unit before undergoing a skin graft to help rebuild her damaged skin.
Laura said: ‘They took quite a large amount of my skin from my left thigh and put it on my inner thighs and stomach.
‘I wasn’t able to walk for a few days – I had to use a zimmer frame. It’s been four months now and I’m only now being able to walk relatively comfortably.
‘They said it could take at least two years for my inner thighs to recover but there’s likely to be scarring for the rest of my life.
‘If we go out for the day, I have to sit down after walking for a little while. I have to moisturise my inner thighs up to six times a day otherwise they become quite tight and I can’t move very well.
Facebook user Kaylee Whormsley, from North Wales, urged people to check their old hot water bottles for the date they bought them after she saw a TV segment warning hot water bottles could rip and cause third degree burns
‘It’s still swollen now and I still can’t wear jeans’.
After researching the safety of hot water bottles, Laura found out the recommended amount of time to use one is two years – and was shocked to discover her own device was eight years past the advised use-by date.
She also found out hot water bottles contain a flower symbol at the top, which indicates the date of manufacture.
Laura said. ‘I didn’t even know hot water bottles had an expiry date on them. I think we’d worked out it was about eight years out of date when I used it.
‘It’s quite scary because a lot of people have had the same hot water bottle since they were children.
Please just check the expiry date, don’t use boiling water, use water from the tap, only fill it halfway and be really vigilant.
I’ll never use a hot water bottle for life. If I’m cold now I’ll just put an extra layer of clothing on. I’ve got to just live my life with my scars. They’re a part of my life now.
‘I feel lucky that I can cover up my scars. In a way I’m very fortunate it happened where it happened so I don’t have to have it on show all the time’.
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