Icy Hot Heat Therapy Patch: "It's Like the Patch Ate My Skin"

Clinton Township, MIWhen Adela first put on the Icy Hot Heat Therapy Patch before her vacation, she thought she was making her trip more comfortable. Instead, she suffered serious burns, which wrecked her vacation and caused permanent scarring. Now, Adela is left wondering how a product designed to ease her discomfort could have wound up causing her so much pain.

"In December, I was going to spend five weeks in Hawaii and I bought the patches because when I sit for a long time my right hip gets stiff and it is hard for me to get up," says Adela. " I thought if I used the patch for part of the plane ride it would relieve some of the pain. Just before we left for the airport, I put the patch on.

"On the box, it says not to wear the Icy Hot Patch for longer than eight hours. Everything seemed fine for a while. On the plane I realized it had been seven hours since I put the patch on, so I decided to take it off. I went in the bathroom and as I took it off, it ripped two big holes in my skin—the patch had burned my skin! The holes were bleeding and they looked like raw hamburger, but there was nothing I could about it on the plane. There was no doctor or anything to help me. I just had to clean it up the best I could and go sit down, but I still had five more hours on the plane.

"When we got to the hotel, I showed my husband the burn and got some Neosporin and bandages from a market across the street because I didn't know what else to do. I put those on, but it hurt a lot. When I took a shower, it was like pouring salt in an open wound. I couldn't have anything touching my skin. All I could do was use gauze, Neosporin and paper tape. For three weeks of my five-week vacation, I couldn't do anything but wait for my hip to heal—I couldn't go swimming and I couldn't even sit in the sun.

"Finally, my hip healed. When we got home my husband read an article about the Icy Hot Patches that said they burned people, so he wrote them [the makers of the patch] a letter. They wanted me to agree to $1,000 for what I went through, but my husband said not to agree to it. My vacation cost $15,000 and the injury wrecked three weeks of it, not to mention the pain I was in.

"I went to a doctor about my hip after I learned about the Icy Hot Patches. He looked at the scars and said they were definitely caused by second degree burns. There are two scars on my hip where the patch was and they are about as big around as a fifty cent piece.

"If people want to use something like the Icy Hot Patch they should consult with their doctor first. I didn't realize I could get burned that badly. It was very painful --it's like the patch ate my skin."

People who have been injured by the Icy Hot Heat Therapy Patches are now investigating a lawsuit against the maker of the patch alleging they were not properly warned about the risks. If you were injured by the Icy Hot Patch contact a lawyer to discuss your legal options.