Tyler Field was left horrified when her seven-month-old daughter Imelda Sykes broke out in a red rash on her face and hands. The child had been snacking on a celery stick in the sunshine when her complexion began to change. Concerned Imelda was suffering an allergic reaction or had been burnt by the sun, Tyler told a close friend about what had happened when she learned the risks of eating celery in the sunshine.
Phytophotodermatitis, also known as ‘margarita burns’, is a skin reaction when the sap from certain plants, including giant hogweed, but also carrots, celeries and limes, gets on the skin and is then exposed to sunlight. The areas affected become acutely red, and often blister. Tyler, who lives in Reading, Berkshire, believed Imelda had got away with just a red rash - before painful, fluid-filled blisters began breaking out on her baby's arm and mouth the following day.
The 25-year-old said she felt 'huge mum guilt' and fears her daughter may be scarred for life from the vegetable-induced skin reaction. Tyler said: "I couldn't work it out at first. I thought she had had an allergic reaction but she'd had celery inside before and she hadn't eaten anything new before.
"Then the next morning she had big, fluid-filled blisters all around her hands and around her face. It's clearly where she had the celery on her hand and around her mouth. "I had them on my arms too from where she had touched me.
You can see the little fingerprints on my arm. I was so shocked. "By the.
