A schoolboy was left in 'absolute agony' after suffering severe sunburn and blistering on holiday - despite being covered in factor 50 suncream.
Kainen Ellis had jetted off to Turkey with his family for their first getaway since 2019 - however the dream vacation quickly turned into a nightmare, the Mirror reports. Despite being lathered in children's Nivea sun protection, the 11-year-old was left covered in huge blisters and was forced to spend the second week of the trip hiding in the hotel room.
Mum Jessica Ellis, 35, says her son had to go to the doctors every morning to have the blisters on his arms and shoulders popped by a nurse, leaving him in extreme pain. Kainen's younger brother Preston, eight, had used a different suncream but had the Nivea cream applied to his nose - which also broke out in blisters, the mum claims.
Jessica says she has been left heartbroken by what happened to her little boy and is now issuing a warning to parents over using the sun cream. Nivea said it takes safety complaints "extremely seriously" and is in touch with the family to find out what happened.
But stay-at-home mum Jessica, who lives in Retford, Nottinghamshire, with her partner Lee Tatt, 39, and her three children said: "I am disgusted with Nivea. This was our first holiday since 2019, and it cost £5,000 for us all to go, but my son's holiday was ruined after using their sun cream.
"He was covered in blisters, all over his arms and shoulders. He was in absolute agony.
"I was crying when I first saw the blisters, and now I'm heartbroken for my boys as it could scar. I won't ever use the sun cream again - it's a well known brand and I'm just so disappointed."
Jessica had flown to Turkey to stay at the Eftalia Splash Resort in Alanya, Antalya, with her partner, their sons and daughter Primrose, three, on July 1. Joined by Jessica's friend Chloe, her boyfriend and their baby, the family couldn't wait for their first holiday since Covid hit after previously visiting Spain three years ago.
Jessica made sure to cover her kids in sun cream, and generously applied Nivea Kids Sun Cream Trigger Spray SPF50 to Kainen's shoulders and arms. It wasn't until the morning of July 8 when Kainen woke up with painful blisters covering his arms and shoulders that Jessica realised just how bad he was suffering.
Jessica said: "He didn't sleep that night, he was in agony, just rolling around in pain in his bed while we were all asleep. I left him in bed in the morning when we went downstairs for breakfast so he could catch up on sleep as he hadn't slept at all.
"When I came back upstairs, he was stood in the front of the mirror in a total panic as he could see the big blisters in his reflection. He had huge blisters all over his arms and shoulders, they looked so painful. I was crying."
Flying back to the UK on July 15, Jessica took him to A&E where doctors redressed the blisters and told the mum to keep applying a cooling cream until the blisters have gone. His skin has steadily improved.
A spokesperson for Nivea said: "As the World’s No.1 Sun Protection brand, we are dedicated to developing products that reliably and effectively protect against sun damage.
"We take any safety complaint extremely seriously as consumer trust in the safety of our products is our highest priority.
"We are currently in contact with the consumer to understand more about what happened in this instance and to get relevant product information that will help our urgent investigation.
"We rigorously test each of our NIVEA SUN formulations and their labelled SPFs according to internationally standardised test methods at independent test institutes, so we can always ensure the consistent, high-quality efficacy and consumer safety of all NIVEA SUN products.
"We would like to stress the importance of regularly reapplying sunscreen and where possible seeking shade and covering up when spending time in the sun, especially between 11am and 3pm when the sun is most intense."
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