Brits have been warned to check the dates on their hot water bottles after an 'expired' one exploded on a mum and horrifically scarred her legs.
Jessica Gordon was sitting at her desk in October last year when she started to experience back and period pains.
After taking painkillers to tackle her aches, the 30-year-old reached for her hot water bottle.
But after filling the bottle up with hot tap water, the mum-of-one claims she heard a 'gurgling' sound before it split open, sending 'boiling' water all over her legs.
In a panic, the customer support worker began to 'scream' and 'cry' and tried to cool her burns with a cold compress.
Jessica was rushed to hospital via ambulance and said she kept passing out due to the pain.
She was then transferred to a burns unit at another hospital where she had her blisters popped and leg bandaged.
A shocking photo shows Jessica's left leg red raw and covered in cling film in the hospital as staff treated her second-degree burns.
Jessica now believes her hot water bottle split as it was out-of-date, having bought it back in 2018.
A year on from the incident, Jessica is now speaking out about what happened as she says she has been left scarred for life.
Jessica, from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, said: "I was in quite a lot of pain with my back and I had menstrual pain too.
"I reached for my hot water bottle for some pain relief as painkillers weren't working.
"I filled it up and I went to sit back down and within five minutes I heard this gurgling sound and the bottle itself split.
"I had boiling water go right over my legs. I was sitting at my desk and I felt an immense amount of pain.
"It was excruciating. It was like a searing pain straight away all through my body. I screamed and cried and I had to take my trousers off.
"It was very traumatic, I was passing out from the pain on the way to hospital.
"I think my hot water bottle was out of date. I don't think it's common knowledge that they do expire and the expiration date is not always easy to spot.
"I have had this hot water bottle since 2018. There were no warning signs or any signs on the water bottle of deterioration, it just collapsed on me and went everywhere.
"I filled it up with hot water from a tap. My legs went red instantly and it turned into blisters straight away."
After being discharged from the burns unit, Jessica returned weekly to have her dressings changed.
She claims she was lucky not to need a skin graft due to the severity of the burns and still gets nerve pain in her limb.
Now, Jessica is raising awareness about hot water bottle safety and urges everyone to check the expiry date on their product.
Jessica said: "I had superficial second degree burns and almost required skin graphs if I hadn't received immediate first aid.
"You can still see the burn scar now. It has faded a lot but I still get nerve pain.
"You need to check the integrity of the hot water bottle itself and make sure there are no cracks, splits or discolouration or brittleness of the rubber.
"You should check the expiry date on the bottle too and I've been informed that you should replace them every year or so.
"You should never use boiling water either as this can destroy the hot water bottle.
"If you're unsure how old it [the hot water bottle] is, I would just bin it.
"I would never buy another one after the incident I went through and I would never allow my daughter to have one either.
"I see them in the supermarkets and they have animal coverings on to appeal to children.
"Imagining this happening to a child is absolutely horrific."
HOW TO SAFELY USE A HOT WATER BOTTLE
Hot water bottles can wear out and most expire after two years from the date of manufacture or first use.
The flower symbol on a hot water bottle indicates when the product was made, with each of the 12 petals representing a month of the year and the number in the middle circle is the year.
A hot water bottle should not be filled up with boiling water and you should regularly check them for signs of wear and tear to avoid injury.
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