Wanted to do was poach an egg
Gran’s horror burns – and all she
WHEN Diane Cobb spotted a new way to poach eggs on a cooking website she couldn’t wait to try it for herself.
But after using the microwave method successfully many times, something went horribly wrong.
The 55-year-old grandmother of five was left with serious burns after the cooked egg exploded in her face.
She was taken to hospital and then transferred to a burns unit where she was treated for four days.
Mrs Cobb found the so-called ‘ food hack’ online. The method involves blasting an egg in a mug of water in a microwave for 60 seconds to poach it, instead of the more traditional saucepan method, which takes much longer.
After so much success with her new
‘I felt like my skin was on fire’
method, Mrs Cobb confidently rustled up a bacon and egg sandwich last month. But as she went to take the sizzling egg out of the mug with a spoon, it shot scalding steam at her face, neck, chest and right eye, leaving her in agony.
‘It was 100 times worse than an iron burn,’ she said. ‘I felt as though my skin was on fire, it was so intense.
‘In a matter of seconds the skin peeled off my face and chest, the burning was horrendous.
‘I ran to the sink throwing cold water on myself. Then I got a tea towel soaked in water and rang my daughter Sam, who lives two streets away, and she drove me to hospital.’
‘When I looked in the mirror and saw my face I just thought “oh God, what a mess”. I looked like I’d done ten rounds with Mike Tyson. It looked that bad I wondered how my face would ever recover.’ Mrs Cobb, from Accringskin ton, Lancashire, was initially treated at Blackburn Royal Infirmary, before doctors decided she needed specialist treatment at the burns unit at Wythenshawe Hospital in Greater Manchester.
There, her tender skin was regularly bathed with water and a specialist cream applied to the 15 per cent burns before her face was swaddled in dry dressings and bandages.
After being sent home she had to use eye drops four times a day and wear facial dressings for a week. Over time she is expected to make a full recovery.
Mrs Cobb said: ‘It was awful having all those bandages on, I hated it. I didn’t go anywhere during that time, I just stayed at home.
‘I didn’t think I would look normal again. I was amazed at how quickly my started to heal – but it was due to the amazing care I was given. The doctors said that by putting cold water on to the burns so quickly, it probably saved me from scarring.’
Doctors have told her to wear factor 50 sunscreen every day for the next two years to protect her fragile skin.
Mrs Cobb is now speaking out to warn others against copying online cooking tips. ‘Cooking hacks are all over the internet,’ she said. ‘I thought it was a brilliant idea until it went wrong. I’ll never do it again.
‘I would urge anyone thinking about cooking eggs in this way to think again – to look at the damage to my face and see what happened to me. That one minute changed my life, I would hate it to happen to anyone else.’