As we’ve been navigating a cold snap the past couple of weeks, more people have been using alternative heat sources, and that can cause skin problems.

If you use a heating pad, electric blanket, or space heater to keep warm, you could develop toasted skin syndrome, a thermal injury causing redness of the skin, says Priority Health’s Dr. David Rzeszutko.

“Heating pads are probably the biggest offender where we’re actually using a heating pad and maybe sitting for long periods of time directly on the skin,” Rzeszutko said. “But we’ve seen conditions resulting from again, fireplaces, stoves, hot water bottles, even laptops. If you put a laptop directly on an open skin surface for a long period of time.”

Rzeszutko is the VP of Medical and Clinical Operations at Priority Health. He says the skin can appear red, discolored, or blistered, and you can treat it by removing that heat source