Swiss researchers say that long-term exposure to heat from devices like laptops can permanently darken and mottle your skin, a phenomenon seen most often in people who rest hot laptops on their thighs for hours on end.
The researchers call it “toasted skin syndrome,” according to an Associated Press report. The report notes that a 12-year-old boy developed a discoloration on his left thigh after playing computer games on his laptop for several hours a day for months. In another case, a Virginia law student spent six hours a day working on her laptop. The temperature on her lap regularly reached 125 degrees.
The Swiss study was published in the journal Pediatrics.
Laptops aren’t the only cause, of course. Any activity that keeps you close to a heat source for long periods of time can toast your skin. Other professions who see the syndrome include bakers, glass blowers and people who used to huddle around pot-bellied stoves to keep warm.
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