A woman got the fright of her life when she was left "branded for life like a farm animal" on her backside after she accidentally sat on her piping hot curling tongs.
Kimberley Davies, 32, was curling her hair naked when she momentarily placed the 200 C tongs on her bed and stood up to reach for her hairspray.
But the Eastbourne native accidentally sat down onto the scorching curlers - with the shock throwing her from the bed in fear that she had been electrocuted.
Initially running cold water over the area, she turned to slathering Sudocrem over the injury and applied a paraffin gauze - but was forced to go to hospital six hours later when her burn continued to hurt.
It was there when nurses told her she had suffered second-degree burns from the curling iron.
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Days later, Kimberley saw a photo of her burn and realised the unfortunate shape of the curling tongs had left her with a five-ball scar that looked uncannily like "anal beads".
Kimberley said: "More people have burned themselves with curling tongs than I realised, but mine is probably the most adventurous shape. It looks like anal beads.
"I wish I had used the curling wand as a sex toy because clearly I wouldn't have burned my a*se [with it]. It's a fabulous scar that I have. It does look like the solar system on my right cheek. I do have sizeable balls burned into my cheek.
Adding: "It's my fault for a split-second putting them on the bed, grabbing my hairspray and completely forgetting that the curlers were right behind me. I won't forget that [again]."
"I was curling my hair, stood up to reach the hairspray, and sat back down. But I forgot where I put my hair curlers.
"I have put a lot of stonage on that hair curler. I'm not a light girl. If you sit down with no care, it's not like you gently sit down, I've just gone straight on it and it's jolted me back off," she continued.
"When I say it felt like I electrocuted myself, the sheer force of chucking myself on the floor I thought I had done something for this.
"I was like a beached whale on the floor. I got up and thought, 'oh god, what's happened?'. I have a long mirror and I could see the brand of the Lee Stafford [curling tongs] into my arse. "
Kimberley has been able to recover well from her injury with the help of her fiancé Ben Mellor and is now having follow-up appointments to make sure the burn is healing, clean and not infected.
Now in the aftermath of her burn, Kimberley urged people to be mindful about where they leave their hair tongs while they are on.
She warned: "I just want to say don't curl your hair naked, because I'm now scarred for life on my arse.
"It's second-degree burns because it's gone through to the dermis level. I will have five balls imprinted into my arse cheek.
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"I have scarred myself. I've branded myself like a farm animal. I've been branded."
But despite the shock, the mum claims she is undeterred from using her tongs and has even curled her hair since.
Reflecting on the situation, she added: "My new mindset is that they are hot, they are plugged in - don't leave them around for anybody, even for a split second.
"These are hot because they are curling your hair and need to be put away safely."
Featured Image Credit: Kennedy News and MediaTopics: Hair and Beauty, Real Life, Health