A man was left mortified after being rushed to hospital having turned blue from head-to-toe - only to discover the real reasons. Tommy Lynch, 42, had bought navy blue bedsheets and slept in them for two nights when he woke up looking like "an Avatar".

He felt "extremely tired" and a friend, who works as a carer, took one look at him before rushing him to the nearest hospital. Tommy was taken straight to see a doctor and was given a bed within minutes while concerned staff put him on oxygen.

When the doctor rubbed his arm with an alcohol wipe, the swab turned blue - and Tommy realised the culprit was his unwashed new sheets. Tommy said he gave the doctors a good laugh but left "more red than blue" in the end.

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The construction worker, from Castle Gresley, Derbyshire, said: "I never knew you had to wash your sheets before you slept on them. "Everyone in the reception of A&E was staring at me like they'd seen a ghost. I had to walk up to the desk and I didn't even know what to say: 'Hi, I've woken up blue'.

"The doctors said they'd never seen someone that colour before and still been alive. I looked like an Avatar. As soon as they wiped my arm and it came off blue, it clicked. I was mortified but they said I'd given them a good laugh. They don't usually have funny stories in A&E."

Tommy had been gifted the £40 king-size bedsheets from his friend, Del, to keep him warm in his barn home. However, he hadn't realised he should wash them first to stop the colour dye from transferring to the skin.

On the second night of sleeping in them, Tommy overslept and woke up in the afternoon "bright blue". He said: "The day before, I'd shook hands with someone and they looked a light blue then but I thought I was just cold.

"The next night I must have overheated but I was lovely and cosy. My friend, Del, woke me up by knocking on the door as I'd slept for 14 hours and he took one look at me and said I needed to go to hospital.

"I sent my mum a picture and she was panicking about my blood circulation while I was pretty confused as I'd just woke up from a deep sleep. I went upstairs, put clean boxers on and tried scrubbing my hands but it wasn't coming off and the soap wasn't going blue.

"I was sorting my hair out when my mate said we needed to go as he'd seen it before as a carer and thought it wasn't good."

Tommy's friend had serious concerns he might be ill and oxygen deprived due to being completely bright blue. Tommy, who sleeps in the buff, had felt very tired and agreed to go to Queen's Hospital in Burton on November 15.

Tommy said: "They whisked me through, put me straight on oxygen, asking me all these questions. I had about 10 doctors all around me at one point.

"They went to take my blood and as soon as she wiped my arm, the wipe went blue. Then it clicked. I said "oh my god, I'm so sorry".

"They were absolutely fantastic but I was mortified. Everyone was still staring at me as I walked out."

Tommy, who has vitiligo, said he gave the doctors a good laugh but stressed he didn't mean to waste their time. He rang his mum to tell her he'd dyed himself - but patchy reception left her thinking someone else had called to say he'd died. After confirming he was in fact alive, Tommy spent the next week trying to wash off the blue by having multiple baths.

He added: "I left more red than blue that day. People were still looking at me weirdly as I had bath after bath but it took a week. The water was blue. The first thing I did when I got home was wash my sheets. I haven't gone blue since.

"Always wash your sheets before you sleep in them. Unless you want to jump the queue at A&E."