Hot water bottle has mottled my skin

[Corneliafunk]

Hi all,
Posting for traffic - has any one had this and their skin returned to normal? I noticed red mottling on my upper thighs last week - looked it up today on google and see it is a thing. Is unsightly but at least is in an area not many people see. Will stop putting my covered hottie there forthwith - but am worried it’s too late. I am mid 50s in case it is something that (as usual) worsens with age :(
Thanks!

It will go. I'm older than you and remember the days of standing in front of an open fire to get warm, we used to call them "corned beef legs".

Erythema ab igne

Usually fades gradually if you stop heating the area but can leave a permanent mark

Yes! I had this because I'm too tight to put the heating on so always had a hot water bottle attached to me. It's called Toasted Skin Syndrome. Mine was pretty mild but looked awful. All gone now tho!

Happend to me, the marks went away when I switched to using a heated blanket

I’ve had this too, it will go.

I get this when I rest my cuppa on my thighs when I'm sat down. And yeah, it goes away eventually

Mine is permanent after being in chronic pain all my life. The doctors call it heat tartan , sometimes it is worse than others.

Thanks everyone. Mine looks terrible. I had never heard of this happening before or I would have been more careful. I have been wfh a lot recently and do get cold, sitting still at the computer - hence the hot water bottle. One leg is worse than the other and the mottle is more brown now there than red.
Perhaps hot water bottles should come with a warning - or else how do you know that this may happen?
The internet recommends retinol A cream - has anyone had success with this in reducing the mottled appearance?

I pretty much do that to myself at least once a month as a sleep with a hot water bottle every night (back pain). It goes :)

There was a thing on This Morning the other day about hot water bottles and that you shouldn't use them for more than two years after they were manufactured as they may burst.

I still call them this and my husband is Mediterranean and so never seen them. He thought there was something wrong with me 😬

My mother used to warn us we'd get ABC in our legs if we stood too close to the fire. I used to get chilblains from my hot water bottle but it was only thing for an unheated bedroom in the 70s and 80s. I also got a dreadful burn on my hand when filling my hot water bottle with boiling water. Not sure they were the good old days...

Every time! And I love a hot water bottle. The only thing that has caused any scars is when the velcro comes undone and I come into contact with the actual bottle. I've several scars from that- I'm a very deep sleeper and wake up to a big blister! But the red mottled pattern goes within a day or so. Don't worry, if you're like me it'll be absolutely fine.

Yes it goes quite fast.

I get this as I use hot water bottles on my stomach due to Crohn's disease! It will go, don't worry.

I've scarred my back from this. A miscarriage caused awful lower back ache so I used one nearly everyday all day for about a month !!

After decades of using a hot water bottle daily due to my endometriosis and IBS I've been left with permanent marks on my tummy and upper thighs. It's called erythema ab igne.
I will never give up my hot water bottles though, ever.

@ArnieandBob
I have found a thread on Chat about this which I have added to. A poster there noted the link between this type of scarring and skin cancer. I love my HWB too - but will have to cut down and definitely not use into my legs anymore. A heated throw for while I am on the sofa watching TV in the evenings would be a good invention I reckon!

I've spoken to many health care professionals about it as it used to worry me that I was doing lasting damage and they've assured me that it's ok. Sadly, my heated throw does little to help ease my endo or IBS pain.