Girl got ‘sun poisoning’ – in spite of sunglasses
AFTEr a day spent sunbathing in Tenerife, Holly Barrington’s eyes had swollen so much she couldn’t open them – despite having worn UV protection sunglasses.
Fearing she would go blind she called a doctor to her hotel room – who told her she had ‘sun poisoning’.
Sun poisoning, a term more commonly used in the US, is a rare and severe form of skin damage caused by over-exposure to UV rays. Symptoms include fevers and inflammation. It can usually be treated by staying out of the sun and drinking water, although sometimes antibiotics are required to prevent further infection. Miss Barrington, 20, was on the second day of her four-day holiday on March 23 when she decided to spend the day tanning.
She wore suncream and sunglasses, and said she didn’t appeared to have burned, but when she got back to her room her face felt hot and slightly swollen.
When she woke up the next morning she found her eyes had swollen uncontrollably over night. After spending the day desperately re-applying aloe vera cream to ease the condition, she woke up 24 hours later unable to open her eyes at all.
Shocking selfies show her with her eyes swollen shut, with the skin around them also blown up ‘like a chipmunk’. Miss Barrington, from Huddersfield, said: ‘I looked horrendous ... I couldn’t even open my eyes and was screaming.’ She called for an emergency doctor, adding: ‘It was the last option as I had tried creams and nothing was working. I didn’t think I would be able to fly home and I panicked.
‘The doctor told me the swelling could be due to ‘sun poisoning’ – which I had never heard of. Blaming her shades for the incident, she added: ‘I believed my eyes would be protected by my sunglasses but they must not have protected my eyes.
‘I was told it was mainly cosmetic ... I looked like a chipmunk on the flight back, I couldn’t believe what had happened.’