By MARTIN JOHNSTON

A man suffered facial burns at the weekend when microwave-boiled eggs and their cooking water exploded in his face, raising the issue of whether the public is aware of the dangers.

Some microwave oven manuals explicitly warn against boiling, poaching or frying eggs in a microwave; others recommend piercing eggs before cooking.

However, specially shaped vessels are widely available for cooking eggs in microwaves, including by boiling whole eggs.

The 23-year-old Palmerston North man had cooked whole eggs in a microwave in a bowl of water, says the Square Trust Rescue Helicopter's base manager, Mike Hall.

When the man removed the bowl from the microwave, the eggs blew up, showering his face with burning-hot water and egg.

"He said he had pierced a hole in each one, but the holes must have blocked up during the cooking and they still had the pressure build-up inside them," Mr Hall said yesterday.

The helicopter flew him to Hutt Hospital's burns unit at 1.30am on Saturday and he was discharged in the afternoon.

In a letter to the British Medical Journal, a group of eye doctors describe the case of a 9-year-old girl who reheated a boiled egg in a microwave for 40 seconds.

It exploded while she was carrying it in a bowl, hitting her in the right eye and face. Her vision was restored, but only after two eye operations.

The doctors believe warnings in manuals are insufficient and want them put on the ovens.

Auckland City Hospital's clinical director of ophthalmology, Professor Charles McGhee, said he had seen three patients injured by exploding microwave-boiled eggs.

They had facial burns and minor visual impairment.

He said it would be easier to put warnings on egg packaging than on microwaves.

Egg Producers Federation executive director Michael Brooks said no-one had yet proposed this to the federation, but if anyone did, the group would consider it.

"I see this as an issue for microwave manufacturers giving advice on how their product should be used ... "