Doctor's warning to those who use hot water bottles over little-known symbol

18 June 2024 , 08:32

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It's important to use hot water bottles safely (stock image) (Image: Getty Images)

It might be June, but Brits haven't put away their hot water bottles yet, with the month being almost entirely a washout so far.

On the cold nights, there's no greater pleasure than cosying up to get toasty and warm with a hot water bottle. It's a cost-effective way of keeping warm - but it's crucial to use them safely to avoid getting injured.

London-based Dr Noman Mohamed, MBBS BSc MRCGP Cosmetic Dermatology, also known as the Skin Doc on TikTok, recently shared a warning to his followers who use a hot water bottle. Dr Mohamed shared a picture of a symbol, which appears on hot water bottles, and said if you don't know what it means, you're "at risk of a serious burn".

During his career, the doctor explained he's come across "several patients who have had significant burns that have needed referral to the burns unit and it's often come to light that the hot water bottle is to blame". In the recent TikTok, he continued: "Now, not many people know this, but a hot water bottle actually has an expiry date, and it's only two years from the date it was manufactured."

Luckily, there's a way to check what the expiry date of your hot water bottle is - but you need to know what you're looking for. The doctor then shared a symbol, which looks like a flower with 12 segments - and a number in the middle.

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Dr Mohamed explained: "So, the number 21 in the middle corresponds to the year it was manufactured, so this bottle was made in the year 2021. And it's got 12 different segments in there, so you can see the first one is filled, the second one is filled, the third one is filled, and the fourth one you can only see three dots. That corresponds to the month, so you've got January, February, March April. So this was made in April 2021, and you can see it's got three dots in there, so that means it was made in the third week of April in the year 2021."

Now you have to work out two years after that, which will be the expiry date of the hot water bottle. "So don't use it beyond that, because obviously there's a risk of it bursting." The symbol is usually found under the cover of a hot water bottle, so you might need to search for it.

Previously, consumer expert Alice Beer appeared on ITV's This Morning to issue a warning to people over hot water bottles. The expert appeared on the show in 2022, explaining that hospitals treat one person a week for hot water bottle burns.

Ariane Sohrabi-Shiraz