A woman’s holiday was ruined when she suffered sun poisoning on a trip to Lanzarote which left her unrecognisable after her face swelled up. Abbie Leverseidge, 22, from Northampton, flew out to the Canary Islands with her boyfriend, Kieran, 21, for a relaxing holiday, but she ended up with blisters and fluid leaking from her nose.
She said: “It was horrible because I was so embarrassed. I had to eat dinner with a hat and sunglasses on. I refused to take them off so nobody could see my face.”
Ms Leverseidge told MailOnline she couldn’t be in direct sun or drink alcohol, missing out on her all-incusive cocktails.
The youngster said she was filled with anxiety after searching online for other people who had the same issue and saw how much worse it could get.
She added: “I didn’t know when it would stop or how bad it would get.”
She dismissed it at first, but then tiny blisters started to appear and her nose started to leak fluid and stung.
After a trip to a market, she and Kieran were on a bus back to the town where they were staying when she looked at her face using the camera on her phone.
She said: “I was in shock at how bad the swelling was, I had a huge lump in between my eyebrows, and the side of the top of my nose was swollen.
“I panicked and showed my boyfriend, who also was in shock.”
She raced to the nearest chemist’s where she bought cream and antibiotics to help bring down the swelling.
Ms Leverseidge said it wasn’t necessarily painful, but it did feel uncomfortable as her face felt heavy and she couldn’t open her eyes fully.
Usually a “night owl”, she also went to bed early each night after the sun poisoning made her feel exhausted.
To make things worse, the couple’s return flight to the UK was delayed two days, meaning Ms Leverseidge had to stay in the sun for longer.
Ms Leverseidge now wants to raise awareness of the risks of staying in the sun too long.
She said: “Although I am very lucky I made a quick recovery and am back to normal now, a lot of people get it a lot worse.
“Getting a tan is great, but it’s not worth having a swollen face and having to walk around in a hat and sunglasses constantly.”
For more information about sun-poisoning visit the NHS website.
