Mum’s warning after common household injury causes ‘skin to melt off’
The mum said she's done the same thing 'a thousand times before' but this time left her 'screaming in pain'.
A mum has issued a warning after succumbing to a common household injury which caused her skin to "melt off" before her eyes.
Rosalind Levine was enjoying her morning cup of tea while sitting on the couch this week. But suddenly, the steaming cup slipped from her hands tipping the boiling hot contents of the mug down her chest and into her lap.
"I went to lift it up to my mouth and it just completely fell out of my hand, because I wasn't at a table it went down my chest and into my lap," the 45-year-old said. "The pain was searing, it was horrendous. It was like having a flame held to you, the pain shot through me, it was really shocking."
"I jumped up and tried to lean forward in the hope that the water would drop off me but of course it didn't because my clothes were clinging to me," she continued. "I was desperately trying to get them off while screaming in pain at the same time. As I took the thin tracksuit bottoms off I saw that the top layer of skin had melted away".
'Really scary' ordeal causes mum to collapse
Horrifying photos show the agonising five-inch long burn on her left thigh minutes after the drink spilled onto her with blisters and burns forming in the shape of the splashes. After standing under a stream of cold water in the shower for 10 minutes, the UK mum called an ambulance, admitting she began to feel faint.
Girl scalded in kitchen after mum turns back for 'less than a second'
Toddler's 'gruelling' recovery after suffering common household injury
"I made the water as cold as I possibly could I think because the burn was so hot I wasn't even feeling it was cold water," she said. The entire ordeal was "really scary", she admitted — especially since her three-year-old was upstairs sleeping.
"I thought 'I've only dropped a tea down myself, what the hell is happening?' At this point I collapsed onto the floor, I was still conscious, and poured cold water over my leg.
"About 20 minutes later the paramedic came, took my blood pressure, monitored me, gave me some bandages and said I'd be alright," she continued. "My chest is very red, but the skin didn't melt away because I was sitting upright and it pooled in my lap."
Burns from hot beverages most common in Australia
The concerned mum is now urging others to be careful and only drink hot drinks at a table. In Australia, burns at home make up 79 per cent of severe burns to children, according to Kidsafe — and most are from hot beverages.
"I've drunk thousands of cups of tea before, I couldn't tell you why or how that happened. My advice would be if you're having a really hot drink, sit at the table with it then if you do drop it, it mostly goes onto the table and not into your lap," she said.
Previously, Queensland mum Renee Steepe detailed a similar incident at home whereby a piercing, blood-curdling scream alerted her to her toddler's painful injury.
Young Amarnie attempted to drag a hot cup of tea to her mouth when she poured it down herself instead. The incident left her in hospital with full-thickness, which is equivalent to third-degree, burns.
Meanwhile, Kidsafe responds to mum's viral 'life-saving' advice for treating child's burns at home.
with Kennedy News and Media
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