Terrifying risks of an old hot water bottle - and when to chuck yours

A Manchester woman has issued an urgent warning to hot water bottle users, after she was left with agonising burns on her legs and pelvis when her rubber bottle exploded in her lap.

Yazmin Hardy, 27, wasn't aware that hot water bottles have expiry dates — and was using a product that was two years 'out of date'.

Experts say that you should change your hot water bottle after two years, as the rubber degrades over time, making it more likely to split.

A number, usually embedded on a rubber flower shape, indicates the date the bottle was made — for instance 20 for 2020.

Ms Hardy discovered after the accident that her bottle expired in 2022. Now, doctors say she may be scarred for life.

 In July, the recruitment consultant reached for her hot water bottle in a bid to curb period pains. 

After filling the bottle up to the top with boiling kettle water,  she put it back in its cover and headed to the couch to lie down.

Minutes later, she said the product exploded, spilling boiling liquid on to her legs, lower abdomen and hands.

Immediately, she said she stripped and jumped into a cold shower for 30 minutes to relieve the pain.

But when her leg continued to burn, she went to Wythenshawe hospital in Manchester.

There, doctors removed dead skin and wrapped her wounds.

She then returned to the hospital every day for a fortnight to have her legs re-bandaged and says she may be left scarred for life.

Shocking photos show Ms Hardy's skin red raw and blistered as she lay on a hospital bed awaiting treatment.

Following the incident, she says she will never use a hot water bottle again and is keen to raise awareness about the expiry dates.

'At first I thought it was my fault because I hadn't screwed the lid on properly,' she said. 'But when I got home from the hospital, I had another look and there was a tiny split in the seam of the rubber bottle.

'The burns were mainly on my thigh and the top of my vulva and then on my other inner thigh.'

While jumping in the shower immediately after the accident eased the pain, the water pressure caused her skin to 'fall off' her leg.

 'When I got out of the shower I had no skin there and it was bright red and more skin came off.

'For days on end my leg kept burning. A week later it was still burning hot.'

It has now been two months since she was burned and although her skin is healing well, doctors say she may be left scarred for life.

She is now speaking out about the incident to urge other hot water bottle users to check the expiry date inside theirs.

'They [doctors] are unable to say whether it will scar or not because everyone is different but you can still definitely see marks. If I had a shower it still goes bright red.

'When I go on holiday I now have to make sure my skin [in these areas] isn't exposed to sunlight or I've got my block factor 50 on.'

Ms Hardy said she's learned more safety rules about hot water bottles since the incident. 

She said: 'You're not actually meant to fill it up all from the kettle. You're meant to do half boiling hot water and the rest cold water.

'You're also not meant to fill it all the way up to the top because of the pressure and also check the dates on them. I will never use a hot water bottle again.

'It's just too scary.'