Girls suffer second-degree burns from fruit

[Hum]

It was supposed to be a normal play day for five friends splashing in a pool in the back yard.

It ended with the group of girls in horrific pain and eventually intensive care in hospital after they all suffered second-degree burns.

The five had spent the day in the pool, splashing around and having fun, The Hanford Sentinel reports.What at first seemed to be overexposure to the sun blossomed into softball-sized blisters and second-degree burns.

Stephanie Ellwanger's girls, Jewels, 12, and Jazmyn, 9, wound up spending several days in an intensive care unit, hooked up to morphine to manage the pain. They stayed in hospital two weeks. Now they're not allowed out in the sun for at least six months. If at all.

But what caused the Ellwanger girls and their three friends - Reyghan, Candy and Bailey - to end up with massive blisters and peeling skin was a mystery.

Doctors were stumped.

Ellwanger, of Hanford, California, later remembered that the girls played with limes from a neighbour's tree, squeezing the fruits and splashing in the juice.

After a Google search and some time trying to convince dubious medical staff, the girls were diagnosed with phytophotodermatitis, described as "a chemical reaction [to the lime juice] that makes bare skin hypersensitive to ultraviolet light."

It?s caused by contact with photosensitizing compounds which occur naturally in some fruits and vegetables ? like limes.

source

[Kondrath]

Wow. Seems like only a diagnosis that House would come up with. 

[Hum]

I'm glad that limes are on my BLAAAH list.

[blerk]

Another example in the news recently, this time in the UK and the compounds from a giant hogweed rather than limes. (If you're particularly squeamish, avoid the picture of the burn further down the page but the picture really isn't bad at all...)

 

dailymail.co.uk

[Yorak]

The title is a bit misleading. The lime juice itself did not burn them, it made their skin hypersensitive to ultraviolet light.

[Noir Angel]

Wow. Seems like only a diagnosis that House would come up with. 

 

This was such an unusual scenario it really does sound like a House plot.

[Growled Member]

Just when you think you've heard it all.....

[Crisp]

I'm glad that limes are on my BLAAAH list.

 

I wouldn't say no to some key lime pie. :shiftyninja:

[killerninja]

They shouldn't have touched those limes.

[BiGdUsTy]

I grow limes, lemons & oranges in the backyard and I have never seen this happen before.  :huh:  Then again I make pie's, juice & drinks from my fruit not play with it.

[killerninja]

I grow limes, lemons & oranges in the backyard and I have never seen this happen before.  :huh:  Then again I make pie's, juice & drinks from my fruit not play with it.

 

You should. You'll never know how fun it is unless you try it.

[AsherGZ]

My grandma used to make this lotion by mixing lime juice and glycerine for keeping skin moisturised during winters. She used to slather us in it whenever we went out as kids and none of us experienced anything like this ever. But maybe this has something to do with the weird skin pigmentation you white people have.

[ilovetonetwork]

I wouldn't say no to some key lime pie. :shiftyninja:

the key lime pie is a lie

[Hum]

... juice & drinks from my fruit not play with it.

I played with my banana.

[Anibal P]

At the rate the younger generations are going they will be allergic to life itself. I remember the good old days when people were only allergic to work

[timster]

I played with my banana.

i did not play with bananas

[Shiranui]

My wife was hospitalized for 2 nights last year, by a mango...

[Growled Member]

I always knew limes were bad for you. (Can anyone guess which new member I am referring to? :P) 

[DocM]

Limes are actually good for you, so ling as you don't use them as a skin treatment then go out under the sun.

My "kryptonite" is raw carrots, which cause an extreme allergic reaction; my throat and bronchial tubes swell shut, my face turns beet red, my blood pressure takes a nosedive etc. In short, if I don't get injected with an EpiPen I'm dead. Cook the carrots and there's no problem - the proteins I'm allergic to break down.

[Ci7]

when i read the title i thought it was because of iPhone!(err fruit!  :P )

[Raa]

Here is the direct link to the article :

http://www.hanfordsentinel.com/news/local/children-burned-by-household-fruit/article_6fb7f69a-143f-11e3-a634-001a4bcf887a.html

 

After being click baited through 3 websites to find it, figured i'd share to save others the effort. :)

 

It's a scary read... lucky I don't like limes, or lemons...

[LimeMaster]

I always knew limes were bad for you. (Can anyone guess which new member I am referring to? :p) 

This gives limes a bad name. :(

[Albert]

it's nuts when you can't trust your fruits. pistachios, anyone?

[Hum]

^ fruits are kind of like people, eh ? :laugh:

[Charisma Veteran]

This gives limes a bad name. :(

Burned by the sun

And you're to blame

You give liiiimmmess a bad name