Martlesham Heath student's warning after hot water bottle scalding

A student who suffered "devastating" burns to her leg after a hot water bottle split said she wanted to urge people to take care when using them.

Cara Wilson, of Martlesham Heath, near Ipswich, Suffolk, received second degree burns after scalding water gushed over her lap.

She said the pain was so "excruciating" she was given gas and air in hospital.

Ms Wilson said: "So many people fill up bottles from the kettle, but you are meant to use warm water from taps."

The 21-year-old had returned to Suffolk from Nottingham Trent University for Easter and was studying for her criminology degree when she was scalded last month.

She had felt cold while sitting at a table when her boyfriend handed her a hot water bottle filled with boiling water.

"I put it underneath the blanket on my lap and immediately felt something extremely wrong," said Ms Wilson.

"We put cooling water and wet towels on my leg for the next 45 minutes...I couldn't stand up.

"My boyfriend's mum found the bottle had split and the lid was still in."

She said the bottle, which was a few years old, was one she used regularly.

Ms Wilson said although the water was only on her for a "couple of seconds", she knew by the pain that it was a severe burn.

The injury on most of her left thigh and calf then started to blister while she was at A&E at Ipswich Hospital.

Returning every other day to have the burn dressed, Ms Wilson's care was then transferred to a specialist burns unit in Nottingham so she could continue her finals.

She said she had since been told by nurses they commonly treated scalds caused by hot water bottles.

"Every single person I have spoken to since said they filled theirs from the kettle," she said.

"The pain has been excruciating, but for a five-year-old where more of the surface of their body could be affected it would be absolutely horrific."

Although Ms Wilson was discharged last week, she was told not to expose her leg to any sunlight for at least a year.

"I will not forget that pain. It's going to be frustrating wearing trousers in hot weather, but I don't have a choice," she said.

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