Laptop Toasted Skin Syndrome Can Give You Discolored Skin. While reading this article, reflect on how long you have positioned your laptop on your lap.
Be careful because long exposure of your skin to the heat of your laptop can cause nasty rashes which is called “toasted skin syndrome”.
Also known as erythema ab igne, toasted skin syndrome is caused by too long exposure of skin to the heat of any device like laptops, electric fan, and baking stoves. Affected people develop discolored skin that does not disappear immediately.
The good thing is patients should not be overly concerned. The syndrome does not cause long-term ill effects, UK dermatologists add.
“If you use your laptop like this every day, there could be discoloration but even this should clear up”, says Brighton University Hospitals NHS Trust consultant dermatologist Dr. Bav Shergill.
The discoloration will eventually clear up, that is, if you stop putting your hot laptop on your lap. Otherwise, if you keep heating yourself, you’ll simply end up with a discolored brownish skin.
Reports show a 12 years old patient who developed this syndrome after playing games for hours. Other cases include an American law student who spent six hours with her computer resting on her lap.
Doctors say the warning goes also for elderly ladies who spend all day sitting close to electric bar fires. Laptop, a modern day technology widely used by people, can go up to as high as 50 degrees Celsius.
Of course, because people these days are all about visuals, here are images that should guide you on how to use your laptop without developing a toasted skin syndrome. This is how not do do it:
And this is how you should do it:
All in all, according to the nhs.uk, there have been a total of ten confirmed cases of skin damage linked with laptops. Here’s hoping that there will be no more additional cases because you’ve been properly warned.
Laptop Toasted Skin Syndrome Can Give You Discolored Skin. Posted 9 October 2010. Last updated: September 20, 2020 at 16:03 pm.