A 73 year old woman with speech and learning difficulties presented with healing full thickness burns on the back of her left thigh. Three weeks earlier she had injured her left thigh at an airport just before boarding a transatlantic flight. An ice pack was applied over the injured part during the flight, resulting in a full thickness burn. The frostbite injury was treated conservatively with dressings and eventually healed. Minor musculoskeletal injuries are often treated with elevation and ice packs. This case highlights the consequence of unsupervised application of an ice pack.

Viswanathan Narayanan, specialist registrar, Yvonne Wilson, consultant, department of plastic surgery, Selly Oak Hospital, University Hospital Birmingham NHS Trust, Birmingham B29 6JD