A schoolboy's first holiday in three years was "ruined" after he was left covered in "painful blisters" despite applying sun cream.
Kainen Ellis, 11, had been enjoying the sun in Turkey with his family, but it wasn't long before his fun was ruined. Despite being smothered in children's factor 50 Nivea sun cream, he was forced to spend the second week of his holiday hiding in the hotel room because of the painful sunburn.
Mum Jessica said her son was in "absolute agony" as she issued a warning to other parents. The 35-year-old said Kainen's brother Preston, eight, had used different sun cream, but wore the Nivea cream on his nose which quickly erupted in blisters as well.
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She added: "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."
Stay-at-home mum Jessica, who lives in Retford, had flown to Turkey to stay at the Eftalia Splash Resort in Alanya, Antalya, with her partner Lee Tatt, 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 in 2019.
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. But towards the end of the first week she noticed her son's upper body was extremely red.
Despite thinking it was a bit of sunburn, on July 8, Kainen woke with painful blisters covering his arms and shoulders as he was "rolling around in pain." Jessica added the nurse had to pop the blisters every day as they "kept coming back".
She went on to say: "He had huge blisters all over his arms and shoulders, they looked so painful. I was crying and he was thinking about what could be the worst that could happen to him.
"I rang my partner and we rushed him down to the doctors at the hotel. We had to see the nurse every morning to pop the blisters as they just kept coming back."
Kainen stayed in the hotel room for the entire second week of his holiday as his siblings, who had used different sun cream, got to carry on playing in the sun, Jessica said. 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, but Jessica fears her little boy could be left physically scarred by the ordeal and is urging parents not to buy the sun cream. She added: "It says on the bottle that it protects you against getting burnt, but look what has happened to my boy.
"I didn't use that sun cream on Primrose at all and she was fine. I used a little of it on Preston's nose and that ended up blistered as well. Kainen didn't want to leave the hotel room until the day we were going home as he was too embarrassed of what people would think.
"He was getting a lot of stares and people asking questions when we took him to the doctors every morning. I'm heartbroken for my boys as it could scar.
"It absolutely ruined the second week of Kainen's holiday as he was enjoying himself before. I won't ever use the sun cream again - it's a well known brand and I'm just so disappointed."
Nivea said it takes safety complaints "extremely seriously" and is in touch with the family to find out what happened. A spokesperson 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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