A teenager ‘addicted’ to her laptop was hospitalised and left with a painful burn on her arm after falling asleep on her laptop charger.
Sophie Spillett was watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in bed one Saturday evening and dropped off to sleep while her laptop was plugged in and the film was still running.
The following morning Sophie looked down at her arm in horror and saw a two-inch yellow blister had erupted on her right forearm in the shape of a fried egg.
16-year-old Sophie Spillett fell asleep on her laptop charger while watching Harry Potter and woke up to a burn on her arm (pictured here with her new laptop which has not burned her)
The hairdressing student from Haverhill, Suffolk, went to the pharmacist after waking up, but was advised to go to the hospital for treatment
After going to a pharmacy the 16-year-old hairdressing student claims she was advised to go to hospital for treatment.
Sophie from Haverhill, Suffolk, said: ‘I went through a phase of being addicted to my laptop – spending five hours a day on it after school playing games and watching films.
‘I was watching the third Harry Potter film and in the middle of it fell asleep.
‘It still makes me feel embarrassed for people to see it’: Sophie says she doesn’t fall asleep with a laptop in her bed anymore
‘The next day I woke up and my arm was completely numb. I freaked out – it kind of looked like a fried egg.
‘When my mum shared a picture of it people were saying it could be an infected spider bite which was really worrying.
‘However when you looked closely at it you could see the shape of part of the laptop charger on my arm so realised that’s what it must have been.
‘When I looked at it it made me feel physically sick.’
‘I want to urge people to make sure whenever they have electrical equipment on charge it’s nowhere near their skin as they sleep’: The teenager does not want other people to go through what she did
Sophie and her mum Gemma Bennett, 36, went to West Suffolk Hospital A&E where the burn was drained, cleaned and dressed.
Sophie said: ‘At the hospital they popped it with a needle and lots and lots of water came out, it was horrible.
‘I was going back and forth to my local GP to get it checked and professionally dressed for three weeks until it healed completely.
‘The scar doesn’t feel like skin, it now feels like clingfilm, I can’t touch it without feeling sick.’
After going to hospital, the Sophie continued to go back and forth to her GP for three weeks to have it properly cared for while it healed
The accident echoes a childhood experience Sophie’s mum Gemma had when she was scalded by a hot water bottle.
Trainee hairdresser and mum-of-four Gemma said: ‘I got a burn from a hot water bottle and was left with a big scar on my leg, it was horrible.
‘I knew when I saw this that she would have a massive scar too – it reminded me of going through it all back then.’
Sophie shared pictures of the blister before it was popped and the subsequent scarring to highlight just how dangerous electrical items can be.
Sophie said: ‘I’m sharing the pictures to help other people – I don’t want anyone to go through what I did, it’s horrible.
‘It still makes me feel embarrassed for people to see it. I now won’t have a laptop in bed in case it happens again.
‘I’m also really careful with using my phone in bed and make sure to check where the charger is.
‘I want to urge people to make sure whenever they have electrical equipment on charge it’s nowhere near their skin as they sleep, I wouldn’t want this to happen to anyone else.’