A mum who was left with third-degree burns and a lifelong scar after her seven year old hot water bottle exploded on her lap has issued a stark warning to others, saying her skin “just melted away”.
Karen O’Brien, a 52 year old retail worker from Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, who lives with her husband Daniel and their two children, suffered horrific burns when her hot water bottle ruptured on her lap in March 2024.
The traumatic incident caused her skin to blister and peel off along with her trousers, leaving gaping “holes in the skin” that deteriorated by the hour. At Leicester Royal Infirmary Hospital, medics had to remove layers of damaged skin to ward off infection, resulting in a large scar on her thigh and permanent skin discolouration.
Now, Karen is extra vigilant around hot items and has urged others to steer clear of hot water bottles.
Karen shared her harrowing experience with PA Real Life: “When I first could see the skin, I had blisters coming up straight away, and then you could see where the skin just melted away. “There were holes in the skin but every hour it was looking worse and worse and worse.
“At first I thought, ‘OK, I know I’ve done some damage here’ but it didn’t look that bad. After this, I found out you are supposed to replace (hot water bottles) after around a year, and a lot of them have the date they were manufactured on them… mine might have burst because it was so old.”
In March 2024, Karen suffered from shingles on her scalp, which left her in severe pain down her neck and shoulder. To ease the discomfort, she resorted to using a hot water bottle, following her usual routine of boiling the kettle, waiting a minute, then filling the bottle to the brim.
Settling on the couch with her seven year old hot water bottle, disaster struck as it suddenly ruptured, dousing her lap with scalding water. She recalled: “It was a complete accident rather than a design flaw… the boiling water went all over my legs so I jumped up and screamed and every time my trousers touched my leg, the pain was incredible.
“I’ve never known pain like it, it was horrendous. I pulled my trousers down, and as I did that, I could see the skin coming away with my trousers. I didn’t know what to do, (I) had never never done anything like this before.”
Luckily, Karen’s neighbour who is a nurse rushed over, advising Karen to get into the bath.
After enduring five hours of skin loss, which Karen described as “hideous”, her neighbour insisted on taking her to the hospital.
At the hospital, Karen endured a painful procedure where a nurse had to strip away surface layers of her skin to stave off infection and apply dressings. She then faced regular visits to her GP for redressing, losing “quite a large area of skin” in the process, with over a month passing before full healing occurred.
The emotional toll hit Karen about two weeks following the ordeal. “I couldn’t stop crying, and one minute I’d be fine, and the next minute, I just burst into tears.
“My daughter said I was in shock but mentally I found it very hard.”
Adding to her distress, Karen’s workplace at the time did not offer sick pay, leaving her financially pressured to continue working despite needing recovery time. In response, her sister Dawn started a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds, so Karen could take a break from work.
The fundraiser managed to collect around £60, which Karen appreciated as it “covered a day’s wage” for her to take off.
Now, Karen lives with a “big scar” and discolouration on the affected skin, which turns “bright red” when she’s cold. However, despite being self-conscious about the scar, Karen decided to not let it hold her back: “I thought I would be really conscious going on holiday later that year but I thought, well, no one knows me anyway, so I stopped caring.”
However, the incident has left her “so wary” when handling anything hot, from making tea to cooking.
“I can’t deal with hot things any more, I can’t bear it,” Karen said. “I’m very careful now… if the kettle has just boiled, I won’t pour it out straight away. I have to wait until there’s no more steam and the water has settled down before I go near it.”
She issued a stark warning to those who own hot water bottles: “Never, ever use them, especially don’t give them to children, they are too dangerous.
“If you are desperate to use one, just use hot water out the tap but I would never use water from the kettle.
“My husband’s bought me a battery-powered fleece that keeps me warm so I don’t need to use a hot water bottle. Even the nurse at the hospital said that she has a lot of children coming in that have been burned from the microwavable things you heat up to keep you warm, so you have to be so careful.”
Karen’s GoFundMe can be found at: www.gofundme.com/f/my-sister-has-3rd-degree-scald-burns-please-help.
