Woman reveals horrific burns she suffered from vapor of essential oil diffuser

A woman has shared pictures of herself after she suffered horrific facial burns from diffusing essential oils.

Emily Smith has issued a warning to other people who think ‘this won’t happen to me’ after she was left with blurred vision.

She said that she had read articles about the benefits of essential oil diffusers and people waxing lyrical about the devices, but none warning of the danger.

She said she was burned on Bonfire Night when she stayed at home to watch a film with a diffuser emitting patchouli oil.

When she went to turn it off, Emily said that some of the vapor sprayed into her face but she didn’t think anything of it.

Emily wrote: ‘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.

‘A few hours later, the fire was waning, so I got up to put a log on it.

‘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.

‘The burning sensation increased, and I realised that I had been burned, although extremely confused and unsure about how it could have happened.

‘I ran my face under a tap for ten minutes, then soaked it in cold water for twenty minutes whilst I rang 111 for medical guidance.