The purpose of my posting this thread was because for months I have been puzzled over the skin damage on my left leg. The only thing that made sense was it had to be from the laptop and my increased time using it. After the damage became so bad that it became mildly painful, then I finally did some research. My earlier research was about skin damage on legs in general and didn't mention low-level continual heat. Finally, when I searched laptops and leg skin damage I found a site that showed this to be a problem with teens wearing shorts that spent hours gaming. I still can't believe that it was a problem after coming through my heavy cotton jeans. I might spend an hour on the laptop wearing leggings, which makes more sense because of the thinness. I never felt anything for months and then it grew sensitive indicating that the damage had gone deeper. It feels smooth indicating the unlikelihood of pre-cancer, but I will have the doctor check it later this month. I posted this thread under the Health section in hopes that enough on-topic discussion would follow and help other seniors that don't use boards or small tables while sitting on a sofa or a recliner, to make this change before they suffer skin damage. It would be nice to keep any general laptop discussion over on the technical threads. As has been pointed out, seniors have thinner aging skin and may be more likely than a teen to get damaged if dressed the same. The problem as reported by dermatologists is that teens, especially girls, tend to stay in their bedrooms, on their beds, dressed in night shorts, and spend hours on their laptops. With the popularity of the super duper smartphones, we see that behavior changing among teens and young adults, but oldies like me still hang on to our laptops and even the newer ones don't cool like the early laptops. Instead of higher volume, high-speed annoying fans, larger heatsinks, and quieter fans are used and the heat is spread out over a larger area, and while not hot enough to burn, the constant heat can damage the skin. On my earlier laptops, the bottom rarely even got warm as the fan kept the hot air blowing out the side. As laptops grew thinner, then the heat problem on the bottom became an issue,
This is probably seen more often in teens because they're more likely than seniors to use their laptops on their laps but, as you suggest, our skin becomes thinner and more sensitive as we grow older, so seniors might be even more susceptible to it than teens.
This happened to me on my back with an electric heating pad that I feel asleep with it on. I wasn't expecting to fall asleep and I was using it for my sore shoulder. I was puzzled by the uncomfortable feeling on my back then over the next few days it revealed itself as a burn. Oh and my shoulder didn't hurt any more.
I can't imagine using a laptop literally on my lap. It would trash my posture, give me carpal tunnel, kill my neck, and make my eyes hurt from having to squint.
Yes, I have experienced this syndrome, last year, took me two weeks to figure out what the issue was, laptop on my lap, always same position mostly, sore area and pink, skin irritated a bit, slow learner on some things... problem has been corrected though..