A man faces weeks in hospital after he gave himself chemical burns on his groin by leaving hair removal cream on for double the recommended time.
William Bishop, 26, was getting ready for a first date with a woman he met on a night out when he decided to use the hair removal cream.
But he admits he left it on for too long and used the Veet cream variety designed for body and legs, rather than the delicate groin area.
Two days on he was left with huge blistering open wounds, which you can see in the graphic pictures below, and took himself off to A&E.
Property developer William, from Cheltenham, was admitted to the burns unit so that doctors could repeatedly burst the blisters, and has been in hospital for two weeks.
William, who faces another three weeks in hospital, said he’s postponed his big date.
He said: ‘I was getting ready for a date that night, so I decided to get prepared – just in case anything good happened.
‘This wasn’t the first time I was going to use Veet, though. I’d used the product around six months earlier, and that went absolutely fine.
‘So I applied the hair removal cream to my lower half. I left it on for around 10 minutes, and it felt rather sore when I took it off.’
William used Veet’s Body and Legs Hair Removal Cream – not Veet Men Hair Removal Cream or the sensitive variety for ‘bikini lines’ – on July 27.
He said he coated the area with a spatula and left it for around than ten minutes – more than the recommended three to six minutes.
He ought to have removed a small test area of cream after three minutes, and removed the rest of the hair if it had come away easily.
Instead, William left the product on his groin for 10 minutes, then removed the cream and rinsed with lukewarm water.
He adds: ‘Potentially I left it on for longer than I should have, as I was applying it to a larger area.
‘I didn’t think much of the stinging to start, but it got increasingly worse – and it wasn’t until two days later that I saw it had burned a hole in my crotch.
‘For two weeks now, I’ve been in the hospital burns unit. It’s been extremely painful because of where it is. I can barely walk, sleep, or sit.
‘Hospital staff have been treating the wound, and done everything they can to minimise infection – though it’s still pretty bad.
‘They have been daily cleaning and dressing it, and have applied a cooling cream.
‘Cleaning is the worst part, though, as they like the blisters to burst.
‘I can’t really do anything here. I’m really hoping to be released soon.’
He said he told his date he’d had an accident, and that they’d have to postpone their get-together for at least three more weeks.
So no, he didn’t have the balls to tell her that he’d burned his balls.
Veet’s website advises: ‘Any kind of reaction is extremely rare, but we always recommend testing on a small area of your skin 24 hours ahead of intended use.’
William confessed: ‘I didn’t know there was a men’s bottle.
‘It was a little stupid of me, I know, and laughable I guess. Initially I found the whole thing funny, until I realised how bad it is.
‘The pain and discomfort it has caused is far from funny.
‘I guess I’ve formed a kind of anger towards Veet.
‘But I’m also shocked that such bad injury can occur from a product readily available.
‘If you deviated slightly from the instructions, you can cause serious damage.’
A spokesperson for Reckitt Benckiser, which makes Veet, said: ‘We are sorry to hear of the reaction a customer has had to a Veet hair removal cream product and we wish the gentleman a speedy recovery as soon as possible.
‘As the health and safety of our consumers is a top priority for us, we ensure all Veet products meet stringent safety standards.
‘We strongly recommend that customers read and follow all the instructions on the packaging and product labels for safe use.
‘Although it’s rare, if customers experience a reaction to the product we advise they seek advice from a healthcare professional.’
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