WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT
A sleep-deprived mum was left with a giant burn in the shape of a sex toy after accidentally spilling boiling water down her leg.
Gemma Allen, 30, had been boiling some potatoes to make the topping for a cottage pie, but being a 'walking zombie' after the birth of her son Toby, who was one at the time, she ended up spilling the water down her right thigh.
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She rushed to the shower and ripped off her leggings to douse herself in cold water, but 30 minutes later a dinner plate-sized burn on Gemma's leg turned bright red, with large blisters bubbling up on the skin's surface.
Her partner Jamie Knightley, 35, rushed barista Gemma to A&E, where doctors scraped the tops off the blisters to assess the damage before bandaging her leg up.
It was only as she lay in her hospital bed that it dawned on Gemma that her burn had an unfortunate outline, resembling a Rampant Rabbit sex toy.
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Part-time drummer Gemma, from Crediton, Devon, said: "When the doctors scraped all the blisters off I realised it had formed this shape.
"Straightaway I thought 'Great, I have a dildo on my thigh'. I think the doctors had a little giggle when I pointed it out.
"From where I was sat it was obvious, it looked like a Rampant Rabbit.
"It was like when they uncover a statue that's been done for someone and it'll either look really good or really bad, this looked really bad.
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"The shape it left just added salt to the wound."
Now, three years on from her ordeal in 2018 and with another baby on the way, Gemma is urging sleep-starved parents to take extra care and ask for extra help when they need it.
She recalled: "I don't know what happened, I was a big, blurry walking zombie and I just misjudged it. Something so simple I totally messed up, I was in shock I'd even done it.
"We had a baby gate on the kitchen so Toby couldn't come out so thank God he wasn't anywhere near me when it happened."
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After running her leg under the shower, Gemma called 111 and was encouraged to go to hospital as blisters emerged.
Car salesman Jamie rushed her to Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital A&E for treatment, scraping the blisters before bandaging her leg.
She continued: "The burn was the size of a dinner plate and there were six blisters altogether - one big one was the size of a digestive, and the others were various sizes no bigger than a 50p piece.
"They had to peel the blisters off and my skin was red raw underneath, it looked like serious sunburn.
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"I had to have a special bandage on it as the blisters kept filling up and draining.
"Every so often I'd bend over and I'd feel a blister pop. It did that for a good five days, it was disgusting."
She had to change the dressings daily as the blisters would regularly pop and drain - oozing through the bandages.
Gemma said she's now sharing her experience to ensure other parents are careful while carrying out seemingly simple tasks, and to seek help if they're struggling to cope.
She said: "My advice to sleep-deprived parents is if you need help and support ask for it and get it.
"People haven't really got as much support as they'd normally have with this whole covid situation.
"I can see how accidents happen, I wouldn't be surprised if sleep deprivation has caused more injuries.
"I would also say listen to your body and get instant mash."
Featured Image Credit: Kennedy News