How pleasant it is to go to the beach in a hot summer day!
A glass of lemonade on a sunny beach day
The beach, the sea breeze, the sun, plus a glass of iced lemonade, you can’t possibly be any happier!
But watch out!
Lemon juice + Skin + Sun= Tragedy!
A instance of sunburn caused by lime similar to the picture Farrah Penn posted on Instagram.
Not too long ago, Farrah Penn released a set of photo on the social media instagram: She was enjoying the pleasant times on the beach, drinking lemonade under the sunshine. Accidentally, she spilled the lemon juice on her hand and then, tragedy happened….
Such cases are not uncommon!
Recovery photo of phytophotodermatitis from two days to ten days.
In 2013, during holiday, both of the two Norwegian girls Fredrikke and Selma’s hands were burned by lemon juice.
The two girls were on a trip with their families to Marbella, Spain. One day, they discovered a lemon tree, and decided to make lemonade out of it, they thought it was fun. So, for more than an hour, the girls squeezed so many lemons.
On the next day when they woke up, Fredrikke found her hands swollen, as if the skin of her hands will fall out upon touching. It was found that Selma has the same symptons. Few hours later, Fredrikke and Selma began complaining about their hands to their parents, and their hands began to blister.People then realized that it must be related to the lemons that they squeezed on the previous day.
How does lime juice cause severe sunburns and why?
Emily Altman a Board certified dermatologist in NJ explains, lime juice creates a phototoxic eruption (the damage to the skin is caused by the chemicals). Lime, lemon as well as many other plants that contain furocoumarins(a photosensitizer), causes blister, redness and darkening spot on skin when combined with the sun exposure. Phytophotodermatitis happens skin is exposed to both lime juice and UV rays. This is a chemical burn, and sometimes people call it “margarita dermatitis” or “lime disease”
Don’t just blame the lemon! In fact other plants can also cause Phytophotodermatitis on your skin; Such as citrus fruits, celery, wild parsnip, wild dill, wild parsley, and some wildflowers. It is the oil that these plants contains that cause the chemical sunburn when combined with UV rays.
Anyone could get Phytophotodermatitis, no matter what colour or condition of your skin is.Dr.Dawn Davis, board-certified dermatologist with the Mayo Clinic says “Anyone who gets a relative amount of oil or liquid from the plant on their skin and then gets an adequate amount of UV light will get the reaction.”
So, this are the things you should do when this happens to you:
Before Phytophotodermatitis happens:
Wash it off thoroughly with water when you touch citrus wild plants on your skin.
Wash off the furocoumarins from the citrus fruit before exposure to sun.
When Phytophotodermatitis happens:
If the symptom is mild when you noticed some redness or swelling you can apply a 1% hydrocortisone cream two or three times a day
If the symptom is severe, contact your doctor ASAP!
By: Joy Li