Woman Tries TikTok Egg Hack, Literally Blows up in Her Face Causing Gnarly Burns

Sometimes, viral trends can result in some pretty gnarly injuries. Just ask the folks who were vaping tide pods or participating in the Skull Breaker Challenge. And while these kinds of trends are obviously bad for your health, there are others that are seemingly innocuous that can inadvertently be dangerous. Like whoever thought that a cooking hack involving eggs could cause severe injuries? Well, that's what one TikTok user learned the hard way.

To first understand how someone harmed themselves with an "egg hack," one needs to know what this little egg cooking trick entails. If you've ever tried to poach an egg, you know how annoying of a process it can be to get down pat, but if you love the flavor, texture, and warm gooey-ness of a nice poached egg, then it's definitely worth learning how to master it.

This TikTok egg hack, however, promises viewers that they'll be able to poach their own eggs with ease by just using a microwave! So if you're in a bind, don't have access to a stove, or just want to try making one in a microwave, it's a pretty straightforward process.

The video below clearly delineates how to do it.

You get a deep container of water — a nice glass measuring cup will work just fine. You fill it with some H2O and put in a tablespoon of vinegar. Swirl said water and vinegar mixture, crack a fresh egg into it, and then place it into the microwave for a minute and 30 seconds.

What will emerge is a perfectly poached egg you can then put on avocado toast or whatever you fancy.

Trouble is Chantelle Conway, a woman from the U.K., performed a modified version of the poached egg hack. The egg was placed in a cup of already boiling water and then microwaved for 10 seconds.

The "quicker and easier way of doing" the hack reportedly worked for the young mother for two years until she dipped a cold spoon into the water to extricate the egg. The reaction resulted in the scalding water shooting upward into her face and neck, immediately burning her skin.

"It was the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my life, and I’ve had two natural childbirths," Chantelle said, who sustained the injuries while she was home alone with her 18-month-old daughter.

"It felt like someone had a blowtorch on my face constantly, and I was convinced my whole face had burnt off." Thankfully, Chantelle protected herself from sustaining third-degree burns by immediately splashing her face with cold water.

She phoned her ex-partner, Mark Ball, who drove her to Royal Bolton Hospital. Healthcare workers placed a jelly face mask on the young woman and treated her pain with morphine.

"I’m coming to the end of it now, and my burnt skin is shedding off like a snake. I’m not in much pain now, but it’s very itchy, and the inside of my nose and lips are still very raw."

She cautioned egg-loving TikTokers about making modifications to the microwave poached egg technique in a series of TikTok videos.

She says that her 5-year-old child expressed their dislike for her new look: "She told me the other day she doesn’t like my face like this, and it breaks my heart. [I worry] what the baby thinks, as well, like if she’s scared of me or doesn’t recognize me."

Chantelle isn't the only U.K. woman who experienced grisly egg-related injuries. In 2019, a "minute huevos" hack resulted in 22-year-old Bethany Rosser being hospitalized.

So if you're going to try an egg-related hack that involves boiling water, maybe take some precautions first. I get it though — I like a quick and easy egg as much as the next person.