A mum claims her oven cleaner ate away the flesh from her arm while doing the housework - leaving her with such bad burns she feared she'd need skin grafts.
Clare Bailey says she was cleaning the inside of her cooker in May when she rested her arm on the oven door which she'd smothered in Oven Pride Deep Cleaner.
The 47-year-old says she was wearing a pair of marigolds to protect her hands but while she was scrubbing away at the back of the appliance she started to notice a burning sensation above her right wrist.
When her arm started to blister, Clare, from Bolton-upon-Dearne, South Yorks, ran it under the cold tap but the pain became so severe that she 'wanted to rip the skin off'.
She rushed to Mexborough Montagu Hospital near Doncaster, South Yorks where doctors carried out a PH test and reportedly identified her skin was still excessively alkali, which was continuing to burn despite having been rinsed in water for an hour and a half already.
The dentist manager was sent home and told to keep running the wound under water before she was referred to the burns unit where she had the injury cleaned and bandaged once a week for five weeks.
The wound ate so deeply into her flesh that Clare feared she would need skin grafts and, while doctors have now ruled this out, she may need surgery to remove the scar tissue that has been left.
Clare said: "The oven was just due for a clean. I normally do a deep clean every couple of months. I just keep on top of it like we all do.
"It was a fresh bottle. You pour it into a bag and put the oven racks in the bag with some gel and coat your oven in it as well.
"As the gel was at the bottom of the oven and I was reaching to clean the back I must have sat my arm in it.
"I didn't even notice I'd put my arm in it but it started burning so I ran it under the tap but it continued and started blistering. It was going mad.
"I felt a burning sensation. It got really painful to the point I wanted to pull my skin off. Running under the tap wasn't helping which is why I went to A&E.
"It was very blistered and had black and grey patches showing the different depths of my skin. It was red and sore.
"They couldn't get the PH levels down [on my arm], tests showed that it was [alkali].
"They sent me home and told me to keep rinsing it. They couldn't clean it because it was seeping into my tissue. It's not a heat burn.
"Your tissue is like a sponge so it seeped right down.
"Then I went to the burns unit the following week and every week for five weeks. They clean it and redress it with special silver silicone dressings which helped it heal."
The mum-of-two says she's grateful her dogs Emerson and Blossom and cat Garfield weren't in the kitchen at the time.
Clare said: "I didn't realise how dangerous it was. I'll never use it again. It's not worth it.
"I've got animals and it would have only took them to step in it or sniff it and they would have lost their nose."
Clare has been using the Oven Pride cleaner for years but believes it's never come into contact with her skin before.
Oven Pride Deep Cleaner includes one bottle of gel, a set of gloves and a bag that's used for leaving racks and grills to soak in.
The instructions warn that the gloves provided are for 'convenience only' and that long rubber gloves are recommended.
They also state that arms and wrists should be covered at all time.
Clare says her injuries could have been much worse if she hadn't worn marigolds, which cover more of the skin than the gloves provided.
Clare said: "I don't think it should be on the market but they should at least put full skin and eye protection in. You'd think they'd provide gloves that go up to your armpit.
"It shouldn't be in anyone's kitchen. It warns you not to get it on your skin but so do lots of other cleaning products but if you do get those on your skin nothing really happens.
"There was no stopping this. It just seeps through and through.
"It's never happened before. It can't have come into contact with my skin before. I normally use that cleaner to do it. I've used it for a few years.
"I had marigolds on so it stopped above my wrists. I'm lucky I had those on. I could have been burned even worse."
Clare doesn't know if her skin will be permanently damaged or if she'll need to have some of the scar tissue removed.
Clare said: "It's scarred now. It itches constantly and the scarring is getting quite thick.
"If it continues to itch and scar they'll have to cut the scarring out. I can't help but scratch it because it itches so it's getting thicker and thicker and it feels like a lump under my arm.
"I'm quite a tough person, it was upsetting not knowing if I'd need skin grafts."
Oven Pride were contacted for comment.
Oven Pride comes with warnings that it should only be used with gloves and covered arms as it 'causes severe skin burns and eye damage'.
It lists ingredients as including sodium hydroxide, which is also known as 'caustic soda' and is described as being 'corrosive'.
