A MUM-OF-TWO suffered chemical burns so severe she may need surgery after she claimed that Oven Pride cleaner ate away the flesh from her arm while doing the housework.
Clare Bailey claimed she was cleaning her oven wearing marigolds when she suddenly felt a burning sensation which made her want “to rip the skin off.”
The 47-year-old said she was wearing a pair of marigolds to protect her hands, which covered more skin than the gloves provided in the Oven Pride pack.
Ms Bailey claimed: “The oven was just due for a clean. I normally do a deep clean every couple of months.
“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.
“I didn’t realise how dangerous it was. I’ll never use it again. It’s not worth it.”
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Ms Bailey rushed to Mexborough Montagu Hospital near Doncaster, South Yorks.
Doctors allegedly informed the burn victim that her injuries were continuing to develop despite having held the area under cold water for an hour and a half.
“It was very blistered and had black and grey patches showing the different depths of my skin. It was red and sore,” she added.
“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.”
The dentist manager was referred to the burns unit where she had the injury cleaned and bandaged once a week for five weeks.
The chemicals corroded Ms Bailey’s skin so deeply that she feared skin grafts would be required.
While doctors have now ruled this out, surgery to remove the scar tissue that has been left is a possibility for the future.
The pet-owner said she was grateful her dogs Emerson and Blossom and cat Garfield weren’t in the kitchen at the time.
She said: “I’ve got animals and it would have only took them to step in it or sniff it and they might have lost their nose.”
The mum-of-two 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.
I felt a burning sensation. It got really painful to the point I wanted to pull my skin off”
Clare Bailey
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.
But Ms Bailey claimed her injuries could have been much worse if she hadn’t worn marigolds, as they allegedly cover more skin than the gloves provided.
“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,” she added.
“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.”
Ms Bailey described the dangerous nature of chemical burns and how the product can continue to eat away at the skin for hours.
She said: “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,” she continued.
The devastated mum doesn’t know if her burns will result in permanent skin damage or if she’ll need to have some of the scar tissue removed.
She 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.”
McBride Brands, on behalf of the Oven Pride product, were contacted but “declined to comment.”
The cleaning product does come 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 including sodium hydroxide, which is also known as ‘caustic soda’ and is described as being “corrosive”.
Another mum also claimed that she was left scarred for life after coming into contact with the product in 2019.
Liana Stott brushed her arm on a pea-sized dot before she claimed the chemical started eating into her skin.
The 25-year-old claimed she used the gloves provided by Oven Pride but they were not enough to keep her arm protected.
Ms Stott said: “You could watch it eating away my flesh. I had no feeling in that part of my arm, it had eaten away at all of the nerves.”
Doctors confirmed the burn victim would need skin grafts due to the severity of her wounds.
