A woman whose face doubled in size after severe sun poisoning feared she wouldn't be allowed through airport security as she was unrecognisable.
Kayleigh O'Donnell was on holiday in Spain with her boyfriend Mitchell Wallis when she suffered from serious sun burn. The pair had jetted off to Gran Canaria and went on a boat trip when she Kayleigh caught the sun, despite lathering on the factor 50.
The 21-year-old went on another excursion the following day, where she covered up further. But afterwards her left eye started to shut before the same side of her face became increasingly swollen.
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The recruitment consultant dashed for medical help where a flabbergasted chemist asked if she'd been punched in the face. Her cheeks even ballooned until she could barely open her eyes.
But the following morning, poor Kayleigh became so swollen she 'looked deformed' - leaving her fearing that she wouldn't make it through airport security due to being unrecognisable. She suffered from sun poisoning or polymorphic light eruption - a case of severe sunburn after being exposed to ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun for an extended period of time.
After a scary experience, she's keen to raise awareness of the dangers that the sun can pose and the importance of wearing sun protection - even if it doesn't feel that hot or sunny. Kayleigh said: "One side of my face was worse, it was huge. I'd say it went double [times swollen head became].
"It made me look almost deformed. It was scaring me, I didn't think they'd let me through security at the airport or anything. It didn't look like me at all. Both of my eyes were pretty much shut, I had to hold them open to see."
Kayleigh and her 23-year-old accountant boyfriend Mitchell flew to the Canary Island for three days on September 28 to surprise her family while they were on holiday. During the first boat trip she wore sunscreen while they were doing water sports.
Kayleigh said: "I'm very pale and fair skinned anyway and tend to get burnt quite quickly. We went on a boat trip and were out for quite a few hours and went back to the resort that night. I was a little bit burnt but nothing bad.
"And then woke up the next morning and my forehead felt swollen and it started to blister a little bit. We went out on a boat trip that day and I sat with a hat on, had suncream and sunglasses on and a towel over my head as well because it started to blister, I didn't want it to get any worse.
"We sat down at a restaurant afterwards and I took my sunglasses off and one of my eyes had just started to shut. I didn't really think anything of it and then we were sitting at the table and one side of my face started to get more and more swollen.
"So we went to a chemist and she said 'have you been punched? Have you been hit?' and I said 'no' and she said she'd never seen anything like this before."
She said that at first, it looked as if she had an eye infection or had been stung by an insect. The chemist gave her some cream and advised her to keep out of the sun but her swelling only got worse.
Kayleigh said: "We went back to the hotel that night and my other eye started to shut as well and by this point both cheeks were swollen and I could barely open my eyes. When I woke up the next morning it had just got so much worse and it started to panic me a little bit and we were due to fly home that day.
"I went to the doctors on site at the resort and they said that they hadn't seen anything like it before and they were unsure whether to make me fit to fly but because I wasn't in any pain he said it was fine. So they gave me a steroids injection and antihistamines and said I was fit to fly and once I was in England it probably took about two or three days to properly go down."
Apart from her forehead feeling tight and sore when putting on after-sun following the first boat trip, surprisingly she didn't experience any other pain. Fair-skinned Kayleigh said she was told by the doctor that she had sun poisoning, which can be caused by different sun rays and she may have been allergic to a particular type.
She's currently waiting for an appointment with a dermatologist to get to the bottom of why it happened. Kayleigh said: "It was our last day that it was really bad and they told me to stay inside and keep a wet towel over my face at all times to cool my body down.
"It was horrible at the airport. Everyone was looking, I didn't know what to do. If it wasn't for the letter from the doctor I would have worried whether they'd let me through because it obviously didn't look anything like me. I'd say wear a hat and wear so much suncream."
What is skin poisoning?
Sun poisoning refers to a case of severe sunburn. It occurs after you’ve been exposed to ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun for an extended period of time.
Also known as polymorphic light eruption, sun poisoning can come in different forms based on your sensitivity to the sun. Unlike a mild sunburn, sun poisoning usually requires medical treatment to prevent complications.
Sun poisoning is significantly worse than a mild sunburn. In addition to the usual sunburn-like symptoms, you might experience: blistering or peeling skin, severe redness and pain, fever (and sometimes chills), dehydration, confusion, nausea or vomiting, headaches, dizziness and fainting.
Sun poisoning can happen from being out in the sun too long, not wearing sunscreen, or perhaps forgetting to take extra precautions if you’re at an increased risk for sunburn.
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