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Lucy Devine
Warning: Graphic content
A woman has revealed how she suffered devastating burns from her hot water bottle after it exploded onto her bare skin.
Annie Thomas, 28, from Nottingham, said she felt like she was being 'burnt alive' when a hot water bottle burst onto her stomach and legs.
With the UK in the middle of winter, many of us are reaching for our hot water bottles to keep our temperatures up and our energy costs down.
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But Annie made a vital mistake when she was filling up her hot water bottle back in October.
After failing to spot the expiry date scribed on the side of the bottle, she filled it three quarters full with hot water.
Just moments after she tucked it inside its cover and placed it on her lower stomach, the water bottle burst and poured boiling water all over her skin.
"I had a delayed reaction for sure but it took me a few seconds to realised what happened and then my whole body erupted in immense pain," she said.
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"The burns were on my lower stomach area, the majority of my right thigh and inner thigh."
She continued: "Essentially it was like being burnt alive. I just screamed and ran straight into the shower and rinsed myself down for about 15 minutes in cold water. I was panicking.
"The only relief I got was when I was under the cold water. When I stepped out of it, I felt this intense rush of pain that I couldn't contain and all I wanted to do was scream.
"I kept getting in and out of the shower for the first hour but I couldn't stand in the shower all night, so I ran a cold bath. I was just submerged in the cold bath until about 1am.
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"I kept trying to get out but the pain was so intense. It just looked like a sunburn at this point as it hadn't blistered yet. It was really pink."
Annie ended up going to the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham after her burns started to blister the next day.
After arriving at A&E, her blisters were popped with a needle and peeled before being bandaged to heal.
Since the incident, Annie is raising awareness about replacing your hot water bottle every two years and checking the expiry date.
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"The burns are paler now and my inner thigh is a light pink," she said. "On my right thigh, where most of the burns are, the scabbing has gone but there are patches that I can already tell are going to scar.
"I think I will be left with a few scars but they are minimal to what I thought I'd be left with after seeing them under the dressing for the first time.
"The thing I have been speaking about with so many people in person is the expiry date. People need to check this on their own hot water bottles and when they purchase one.
"I don't think everybody knows about this and this is what was quite shocking to me.
"You also need to change your hot water bottle every two years."
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The typical lifespan of a hot water bottle is two years, meanwhile, it's important to look out for the printed daisy wheel, which reveals the expiry date, according to the NHS.
The middle number usually indicates the year it was made, meanwhile the 12 segments around the outside represent the different months of the year.
Marking the segments reveals which month the bottle was made, so if the first four segments are marked, this usually indicates that it was created in April, for instance.
Annie also reminded people not to pour boiling water straight into the hot water bottle and to top it up with some cold water, too, before letting the air out prior to sealing.