A woman has issued an urgent warning to anyone using a hot water bottle (Image: Getty)
A woman who was left in “horrendous pain” after her exploded on her lap has issued an urgent warning to anyone who uses the appliance.
Karen O’Brien, 52, was dealt a horrific shock when her hot water bottle suddenly burst open on her lap in March 2024.
The incident left the mother-of-two with severe burns, blisters and holes in her skin that got worse by the hour.
Doctors at the Leicester Royal Infirmary Hospital removed layers of her to avoid infection.
Ms O’Brien has been left with a huge scar on her thigh and permanent skin discolouration.
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Now, she is urging others to stay away from the household appliance after her traumatic experience.
Ms O’Brien said: “I’ve never known pain like it, it was horrendous.
“When I first could see the skin, I had blisters coming up straight away, and then you could see where the skin just melted away.”
She remembers how when she saw her skin pulling away with her trousers as she took them off, with her wound looking worse and worse as time went on.
She said: “At first I thought, ‘OK, I know I’ve done some damage here’ but it didn’t look that bad.”
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It was only after her injury that Ms O’Brien found out that hot water bottles should be replaced after a year or two.
She said: “After this, I found out you are supposed to replace (hot water bottles) after around a year, and a lot of them have the date they were manufactured on them… mine might have burst because it was so old.”
The Leicestershire mom now has a permanent scar on her leg.
The classic hot water bottle has been around for decades but unfortunately for some that is all too literally true, and in many cases your hot water bottle is actually unsafe to use in 2025.
Sleep and mattress experts at have shared that difficulty retaining heat and softened material could indicate that the bottle is no longer safe to use.
Rebecca Swain, mattress expert at said: “Many of us will have dug out our hot water bottles by now to help fight the cold weather. While they can be a great way to stay warm it’s important to remember that they need to be replaced every couple of years to use them safely.
“Over time these bottles deteriorate from constantly being filled with warm water. It compromises their structure and as the material gets thinner, it increases the risk of splitting or bursting and causing burns.”