Toasted Skin

[F, Calla & Luca]

Think we are all due for a case?

Warm laptops can cause skin damage

Monday, October 4, 2010

BY LINDSEY TANNER

The Record

ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHICAGO — Have you ever worked on your laptop computer with it sitting on your lap, heating up your legs? If so, you might want to rethink that habit.
Doing it a lot can lead to "toasted skin syndrome," an unusual-looking
mottled skin condition caused by long-term heat exposure, according to
medical reports.
In one recent case, a 12-year-old boy developed a sponge-patterned skin
discoloration on his left thigh after playing computer games a few hours
every day for several months.
"He recognized that the laptop got hot on the left side; however,
regardless of that, he did not change its position," Swiss researchers
reported in an article published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
Another case involved a Virginia law student who sought treatment for the mottled discoloration on her leg.
Dr. Kimberley Salkey, who treated the young woman, was stumped until she
learned the student spent about six hours a day working with her
computer propped on her lap. The temperature underneath registered 125
degrees.That case, from 2007, is one of 10 laptop-related cases reported in medical journals in the past six years.
The condition also can be caused by overuse of heating pads and other
heat sources that usually aren't hot enough to cause burns. It's
generally harmless but can cause permanent skin darkening.

In very rare cases, it can cause damage leading to skin cancers, said the Swiss researchers, Drs. Andreas Arnold and Peter Itin from University Hospital Basel. They do not cite any skin cancer cases linked
to laptop use, but suggest, to be safe, placing a carrying case or
other heat shield under the laptop if you have to hold it in your lap.
Salkey, an assistant dermatology professor at Eastern Virginia Medical
School, said that under the microscope, the affected skin resembles skin
damaged by long-term sun exposure.
Major manufacturers including Apple, Hewlett Packard and Dell warn in
user manuals against placing laptops on laps or exposed skin for
extended periods of time because of the risk for burns.
A medical report several years ago found that men who used laptops on
their laps had elevated scrotum temperatures. If prolonged, that kind of
heat can decrease sperm production, which can potentially lead to
infertility. Whether laptop use itself can cause that kind of harm
hasn't been confirmed
In the past, "toasted skin syndrome" has occurred in workers whose jobs
require being close to a heat source, including bakers and glass
blowers, and, before central heating, in people who huddled near
potbellied stoves to stay warm.
Dr. Anthony J. Mancini, dermatology chief at Children's Memorial
Hospital in Chicago, said he'd treated a boy who developed the condition
from using a heating pad "hours at a time" to soothe a thigh injured in
soccer. Mancini said he'd also seen a case caused by a hot water
bottle. He noted that chronic, prolonged skin inflammation can potentially
increase chances for squamous cell skin cancer, which is more aggressive
than the most common skin cancer. But Mancini said it's unlikely
computer use would lead to cancer since it's so easy to avoid prolonged
close skin contact with laptops.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Thanks for the good info.

[Lorraine Bromley]

I actually just saw a show that featured a new blanket. It is made for expectant mothers who use laptops. It is called belly armor. It blocks the radiation that lap tops emitt and could be harmful to the babies. It blocks transmition of cell phone signals as well. I don't know whether or not it blocks the heat as well. I use a case that holds the lap top and it has handles so I can carry it much easier from room to room. It is very thin and has a built up area on the bottom inside to allow air flow as well. I really like it. It is made be belkin.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Karen, it never occurred to me --you crack me up>

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

"Major manufacturers including Apple, Hewlett Packard and Dell warn in
user manuals against placing laptops on laps"
Does anyone else think this sentence is as funny as I do?
Maybe they should think of a new name for them, too.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

saw on news this am. Always keep the laptop on a laptop desk.

[cheryl & oliver]

I read this article today. I have to tell my son to read it and keep the laptop off his lap!!!...thanks

[F, Calla & Luca]

I'm glad if this article helped.

[Camilla and Darwin]

Yikes! I always have my laptop on my lap... I'm going to have to change that.