A woman has been left with severe burns and lentils stuck in her cheeks after a pressure cooker exploded in her face.

Nidia Rico was at home one morning making lunch for herself and her boyfriend when tragedy struck.

The 29-year-old was making lentils with rice and a brisket and claims the product exploded – leaving her with severe burns.

She later shared the story on TikTok to warn others, (@kathe_life ), where the video has racked up over 40 million views.

“I got up like every morning to prepare lunch for my boyfriend and I to take to work,” Nidia, a publicist from Bogotá, Colombia, told http://NeedToKnow.co.uk .

“That day I was going to make a meal I’d been making for three years but this time I was using a different pressure cooker.

“My friends bought be this one, supposedly it has an internal pressure seal that prevents it from exploding.”

The incident took place on 31 May this year but Nidia has only recently shared the story online.

She prepared and seasoned the food, put it in the pot and left it on medium heat for 10 minutes.

Nidia said: “I took out all the air as I normally do but it didn't come out.

“Normally, air comes out little by little, so I decided to leave it for a bit.

“It was hard to open and when I finally I opened it, I heard an explosion, my face felt very hot, I was dizzy and I screamed.

“In those first seconds I thought I damaged my face, I'm not the most vain person in the world, but it's my face!

“I started screaming and crying uncontrollably, my boyfriend who was getting ready to go to work, ran out of the shower to see me.

“He shouted if I was ok and said we should go to the emergency room.

“I had lentils stuck to me, so I washed my face with warm water, removed the food and went to A&E.”

Upon arriving in the emergency room, doctors found that Nidia was suffering with first degree burns on the left half of her face, with the most affected areas being the eyelid, cheek and the space between her mouth and nose.

She was hospitalised for one day and recommended to stay indoors to allow her face to heal and avoid having the sun on her face.

She said: “They prescribed me a cream and also said to wear dark sunglasses and a face mask.

“And if I had to go out, I had to apply a lot of sunscreen.”

It has taken months for Nadia to recover but thankfully her skin has mostly healed, with only small spots left on her face from the burns.

Her video has racked up over 2.5 million likes.

In the post, she shares multiple clips and pictures from her time in the hospital and explains what happened.

“First and foremost, optimism, beware of pressure cookers,” she captioned the post, which has 18,800 comments from shocked users.

One person said: “My biggest fear.”

Korey added: “This is exactly why I refuse to use one.”

Izzy commented: “New fear unlocked.”

Ryan wrote: “Awww girl, hope you feel better.” [sic]

“I am from the generation that is afraid of the pressure cooker,” said Carol.

“My pressure cooker has safety valves, highly recommended to avoid these accidents,” added Tomando.

“The biggest fear of my life,” wrote Laura.

“That’s why I don’t eat,” commented Maruchan.

ENDS

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