Sarah Cole, 29, received burns to 98 per cent of her body after taking a doctor's advice to add one cup of bleach to a full bath to help ease her eczema.

Ms Cole was rushed to Wollongong Hospital after taking the bath in late July, before being transferred to the burns unit at Concord Hospital where she said staff "worked day and night to save my life".

She was released from hospital last week and is now recovering at home, however she remains in constant pain and emotional distress from the extensive scarring.

"I have suffered with eczema all my life and have been seeing a number of skin specialists," she said.

"During one of my appointments one of the specialists advised my mother and I that I should try a bleach bath.

"He advised I put one whole cup of ... household bleach into one whole bath or half a cup in half a bath.

"At this time I was extremely hesitant but considering the advice came from a specialist I tried it anyway."

Ms Cole said during the bath her skin "stung and felt like it was burning" but she was able to get out and carry on with her day.

"The next day I woke up shaking like crazy and in extreme pain like my skin was on fire, I could barely move so called an ambulance."

Ms Cole said the experience had not only taken its toll on her but also her family, who at one stage had thought they would be planning a funeral.

While her partner Ricky and parents travelled hours each day to visit her in the Sydney hospital, she did not let her kids visit because she didn't want them to keep getting distressed by her appearance.

Her two youngest children, aged 12 months and four, are still being cared for by her parents as she's in too much pain to care for them all and can't afford to pick up any infections due to a weakened immune system.

"I do have quite a bit of scarring from head to toe and I am in a great deal of pain all day every day," she said. "But the hardest part is the emotional side. I am an emotional wreck. My kids have struggled seeing me the way I was and not being with me.

"My eight-year-old son has nightmares and screams out 'mum' through the night. It has been extremely hard on them and my partner."

Ms Cole said she's now struggling to afford the range of medications and creams plus the many specialist appointments she needs to attend.

"It's a horrible feeling and I have a very long road ahead of me," she said.

"The past couple of months have been hell and I can't wait for it to all be over and I can get back to my life, back to just being able to just hug my kids," she said.

An online fundraiser - Helping Sarah on FundRazr - has been set up to help with ongoing costs.

With bleach baths back in vogue, Eczema Association of Australia president Cheryl Talent is urging people to take precautions.

Ms Talent said bleach baths had been in use for decades, however, Dapto woman Sarah Cole’s recent adverse reaction highlighted the need for extra care.

‘‘Bleach baths have long been a standard practice for eczema patients as it helps to stop staph infections,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s a very old-fashioned practice that became very common in the 1950s and then went out of vogue for a long time but has had a real resurgence over the past couple of years.

‘‘People with eczema get a lot of infections and end up on antibiotics frequently, and so bleach baths have again become a popular alternative as people don’t want to build up resistance to antibiotics.’’

Ms Talent said while one cup of bleach to a full bath was ‘‘standard advice’’ from skin specialists, eczema sufferers should do a patch test.

‘‘We always recommend people patch test anything before they immerse themselves in it, or rub it all over their body,’’ she said. ‘‘They can test a piece of skin or stick a foot or hand in the bath, and then leave it for 24 hours and if there’s no reaction, they can use it all over.

‘‘For most eczema sufferers, bleach baths can be a significant help but there’s always a percentage that have a very severe reaction, like this unfortunate lady [Ms Cole], or so much residual dryness that it makes the eczema worse.’’

Ms Talent also urged eczema sufferers to start off with a very small amount of product if they were advised to take a bleach bath by a specialist.

‘‘Perhaps use half a cup or even a tablespoon per bath,’’ she said. ‘‘Let’s not forget that baths come in all shapes and sizes.’’

Prevention was always better than cure and Ms Talent also advised eczema patients to moisturise regularly, take a daily probiotic and keep a food diary to identify any triggers.