Sarah Cole bathed in bleach to treat her eczema and ended up with burns to 98 per cent of her body.

Sarah Cole, before she took the bleach bath. (Source: Facebook.)

Sarah Cole, a 29-year-old mother of three from Dapto, NSW, found herself hospitalised with horrific burns to 98 per cent of her body.

The cause? A specialist told her to soak in a bath of bleach to soothe her eczema. Alarmingly, what happened to Cole’s skin was the exact opposite of being soothed or healed: angry, red, life-threatening burns.

Cole had experienced eczema since birth. She and her mother visited a skin specialist in an attempt to figure out a way to treat her skin condition. The skin specialist suggested that she bathe in a mixture of bleach and water, and according to The Daily Telegraph, she and her mother “baulked” at this dangerous advice.

“I can remember saying to him ‘there’s no way in hell I’m going to bath in bleach, that’ll burn like crazy’ but he said to me and my mum ‘no, no, you have to try it,’” she explained.

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After pouring a whole cup of bleach into the bathwater, Ms Cole soaked her entire body in it. The initial pain that Ms Cole experienced in the bath was nothing compared to the terrifying damage that would surface two days later.

“I woke up shaking like crazy, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t talk so my partner called the ambulance and I was taken to hospital where I was taken to ICU,” said Ms Cole, to The Daily Telegraph.

]She remained in hospital for over a month and was unable to care for her children as she was in so much pain. Her parents even began planning her funeral.

Ms Cole returned home to recover and has a Fundrazr page set up to help her and her family during this difficult time.

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Eczema sufferers don’t have it easy. This inflammatory skin condition can cause itching and dryness, and can appear red and scaly. Bleeding or “weeping” of the skin may occur, as well as infections.

“Eczema would basically refer to someone who’s born with a genetic tendency for the skin to become inflamed,” says Dr Michael Rich, from enRich Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery Centre. And according to the Eczema Association of Australia, one in three Australasians are affected by eczema at some point in their lives.

Many eczema sufferers struggle to find treatments and solutions to this uncomfortable skin condition. When your skin just won’t stop itching from the day you were born, it’s understandable that desperation can take over, leading patients to try dangerous home treatments.

The idea of a bleach bath may sound like a crude form of torture but interestingly, several health websites recommend them as a therapy for eczema. Mayo Clinic even states, “A bath with a small amount of bleach added to the water may help lessen symptoms of chronic eczema… An eczema bleach bath can kill bacteria on the skin, reducing itching, redness and scaling.”

Related:  Update: Mia Freedman has finally found a product that helps to soothe the eczema on her eyelids.  

While it might have some benefits for some, it's important to remember that bleach is a dangerous household chemical, which is difficult to control in its liquid form. It's too easy to accidentally pour too much from the container. There is too much room for error when bleach is recommended for use on the skin.

The amounts of bleach suggested for bleach baths vary on every website, however, it must be said that none of the websites researched for this story recommended using as much as a full cup of bleach, which was the amount of bleach that Ms Cole had added to her bathwater.

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If your eczema is causing you extreme discomfort, make sure you see a trusted doctor who can recommend reliable treatments which leave no room for error or burns. And if you are ever unsure about a specialist’s advice, seek a second opinion.

Can you recommend a safe, foolproof eczema treatment?