A woman has issued a warning about the dangers of ‘relaxing’ essential oils after an evening at home left her severely burnt.
Emily Smith suffered chemical burns to her face and eyes when an essential oil diffuser she was using at home sprayed vapour in her face.
The 24-year-old shared the graphic pictures of her burns on Facebook along with a frustrated message, which has since gone viral.
"If you asked me four days ago whether I thought I would be a victim of chemical burns on my face and eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it," she wrote.
"You always think 'this won't happen to me'. But this time it did."
Smith said a popular electric diffuser was scenting her home, when she walked over to it to turn it off by holding down the button for a number of seconds, as is instructed.
"In the process of turning the appliance off, some of the vapor from the diffuser must have sprayed onto my face. But I didn’t think anything of this. Whilst I was somewhat aware of the danger of getting essential oils directly on my skin, I was unaware that the vaporised 'diluted' oil from my diffuser could also be dangerous," she wrote.
A few hours later, she went to put a log on the living room fire.
"Immediately, I felt a stinging sensation on my face but due to the fact that my body never came into direct contact with the flames, combined with my ignorance about the nature and danger of the oils my skin had come into contact with, I didn’t put two and two together," she wrote.
Top Comments
This is why I don’t use electric diffusers. What’s wrong with using them traditionally? Use a melt and a candle and be responsible around them. Perhaps she should’ve called that nurse on call service or home doctor service than 000 though
I’m concerned that this girl is calling 000 for these concerns! Unless her ailment impacts her ability to drive or get in a cab (which was not the case) then don’t call 000! You were holding up the line for real emergencies!
She didn't get an ambulance to come out the first time. She got advice which is fine. She should not have got in a car with a sore burning face and a cab could've taken ages. She did the right thing.