A young woman’s warning after a few hours in the sun caused ‘poisoning’ and her eyes swelled shut – and it could happen to anyone: ‘My face doubled’
- Llio, from Wales, saw her face swell to twice its size and erupt in a rash
- She had spent a day in Gran Canaria, Spain, causing sun poisoning
A woman suffered a horrific case of sun poisoning that left her “looking like a chipmunk” after spending a few hours on the beach during her holiday.
Llio, from Wales in the UK, went to Gran Canaria in Spain while on holiday in Southern Europe.
The woman just wanted a healthy tan, but didn’t use enough sun protection, which caused both her eyes to swell and her face to almost “double” in size.
Llio also dealt with painful blistering, redness, and rashes for an entire week before her antihistamines provided relief.
Sun poisoning is a serious case of sunburn, a reaction to the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays.
Llio [pictured] suffered a horrific case of sun poisoning that left her ‘looking like a chipmunk’ after spending a few hours on the beach during her holiday
‘[I expected] to top up your tan on holiday, but [ended up with] sun poisoning instead,” she said in a video.
The woman first noticed that her forehead started to swell a few hours after being exposed to the sun.
She awoke the next morning with a swollen left eye that partially obscured her vision.
“Soon I couldn’t open my eye and it got worse and worse.”
Llio’s sun poisoning left her feeling extremely fatigued and she ended up taking a short nap.
“I woke up with both swollen eyes,” she said. “They were closed and I couldn’t see anything.”
The woman’s face began to peel on the third day as she traveled to the airport.
“I looked like a chipmunk, it was bad,” she said.
She reminded everyone that there were ways to avoid the same predicament.
“Don’t forget to wear sunscreen,” she warned.
The woman first noticed that her forehead began to swell a few hours after being exposed to the sun, and woke up the next morning with a swollen eye that partially obscured her vision
‘Sun tanning is another sign of overexposure to UV radiation. There is no such thing as safe sunbathing. If the skin darkens, that is a sign of skin cells that have been traumatized, even if there is no redness or peeling,” Professor Anne Cust, chair of the Cancer Council’s skin cancer committee, told FEMAIL.
“Sunburn and tan, no matter how severe, are direct indications of UV damage.”
Professor Cust added: ‘However, it is never too late to be SunSmart. UV damage is cumulative and UV exposure adds up over time, adding to your long-term risk of skin cancer.”
Many people shared similar experiences with sun poisoning.
“This happened to me!” wrote a woman. “I looked pretty funny, but it was really traumatic.”
“I have really bad allergies and my doctor said I was allergic to the sun…so sad.”
“I’ve never seen this happen to anyone else,” added another. “The skin on my face literally slid off – it’s definitely one of the worst experiences ever.”
Others revealed that Llio’s video made them reconsider being lax about applying sunscreen.
‘I’ve never put on sunscreen, but I’m going to start. This is so scary.’
“Oh my god, my eyes just water when I see this.”