Icy Hot Heat Patch: Horrific Pain

Bristol, VADonna B. was simply trying to alleviate the arthritis pain in her shoulder when she put on an Icy Hot Heat Patch. The patch was not even hers; it was given to her by a co-worker who was also using a patch. Unfortunately, Donna wound up with burns on her upper back, where the Icy Hot Patch had been placed. She says her co-worker now deals with guilt from having given Donna the patch in the first place.

"I didn't have the patch on five hours," Donna says. "When I got home, I took it off and I screamed. I had blistered up and it hurt a lot. My husband came running—he didn't know what was going on. He got out the aloe vera and got the stuff that you use to take the sting out of sunburns. As soon as he put it on, it blistered up more. My skin was raw the length of the patch. My husband gave me Tylenol and put gauze on it.

"I went to work the next day and showed everyone what happened. I have a good-sized scar from it. It was the most painful thing I've ever been through and I've had four children.

"But it didn't even feel like it got hot while I had it on. The pain happened when I took it off. Then I realized that I had been burned. I just didn't even feel like the patch got hot at all. When I took it off, though, it was very painful. Like getting sunburned, but not just a regular burn—the kind where you've got sun poisoning. That's how much it hurt.

"It was horrific. I am not kidding. I would hate to think about that happening to an older person because it was horrific."

Donna was injured approximately three months ago. The blisters took two painful weeks to heal. She says that she still has a scar where the Icy Hot Heat Patch was placed.

The maker of the Icy Hot Heat Therapy patch has announced a nationwide recall of some of its products. More than 200 people have suffered first, second and third degree burns after using Icy Hot Heat Therapy products. Some consumers are now investigating a possible lawsuit, alleging that their use of Icy Hot Heat Therapy patches resulted in serious injury.