Woman Left Traumatised After Sunday Roast Accident Burns Tattoo Off
"I just remember this excruciating pain."
While a roast dinner is generally an enjoyable experience all round, it was anything but for this woman. Watch the video here:
Amber Bowles from Great Yarmouth in Norfolk says she was left 'traumatised' after accidentally burning part of her tattoo off while cooking Sunday lunch.
As the 27-year-old salon owner was rustling up the roast gammon meal, she spilled boiling water down herself while draining her potatoes.
The scorching water ran down the mum-of-one's right arm and all over her half tattoo sleeve of a woman and a floral design, burning off part of the ink job.
Four months on, she's decided to speak out on the ordeal, warning people to be 'more wary' to avoid having to go through the same agonising experience.
She said: "The accident has burned the tattoo off. I've got a woman's face and a big flower. Half her head is missing and then half of the flower and all the leaves have gone as well.
"The doctors didn't think it would go that deep to take the tattoo off, they thought the tattoo would come back, but the burn went quite deep so it took all of the ink out of the skin.
"It went that deep it damaged all my nerve endings too. I was really traumatised by it."
The incident unfolded in November of last year when Amber was cooking the roast for her family, including her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Vienna Brown and her partner, 28-year-old salesman Zack Brown.
Amber continued: "I usually do a roast every Sunday, it's a meal I'm really good at making and something I enjoy doing.
"I was doing roast potatoes. I peeled all the potatoes, put them in a big silver pot to boil with salt and a bit of oil before I put them in the oven.
"I went to pick the big pot up but the handles were too hot so I grabbed a tea towel and picked the pot up. It contained water that had been boiling for about 20 minutes.
"The tea towel then got caught and the whole of the pot went all over my right arm, hand, thumb and wrist.
"I just remember this excruciating pain. I don't know how I even managed it but I managed to put the pot back down and then screamed for my partner and my mum.
"I got to the tap as quickly as I could and I put it under the cold water tap.
"I've given birth [was in labour] for 40 hours and that wasn't even on par with that. It felt like my arm was on fire.
"As soon as I saw my arm under the cold water tap my skin was just peeling off and that's when I knew it was bad.
"My whole body went into shock and I was just screaming. Zack came down, he was just as shocked as I was.
"I had it under the water for 20 minutes and then he rushed me to hospital."
Zack drove Amber to James Paget Hospital's A&E department in Great Yarmouth where doctors soaked her arm in cool water before scraping off the blisters, applying antibacterial cream and dressings.
Amber added: "Once I got to hospital that's when I started to get blisters, there were about eight or nine and they were big - some were the size of a £2 coin.
"I thought it was best to leave them but they popped them and then peeled all the skin back, which was awful. It was absolutely agonising.
"I was there for about an hour, they were pretty quick and were really good.
"I went back the next day and then I then had to go to burns specialists at Broomfield Hospital in Essex.
"They were going to have to do a skin graft and take it off my leg but my body then started healing on the last visit and they were quite happy with it."
Amber avoided cooking after the accident, and while she's now back to doing what she enjoys, she's urging others to be 'more wary' in the kitchen.
Amber said: "I'm glad it's taken half of my tattoo off rather than burn my face or my daughter.
"I couldn't believe I'd done it, I still can't. After I did it I didn't cook for a while, I didn't go near a hob.
"Now I'm ok but I'm very wary. Before I burned myself I'd be doing multiple things at once and rushing. Now I do not rush, I take my time and make sure my little girl's not there just in case."
"My advice to people is to be more wary when in the kitchen."
Featured Image Credit: Kennedy News and MediaTopics: Food And Drink, Tattoo
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