A mum fears her infant daughter may be scarred for life after she was covered in burns from eating a stick of celery on a sunny day. Imelda Sykes, seven months, had been eating the vegetable for 15 minutes when her complexion immediately began to change colour. She broke out in a red rash when her mum, Tyler Field, spotted what was going on and at first thought she was suffering an allergic reaction or was burnt in the sunny weather .
She told a friend about what had happened who told her the risks of eating celery in the sunshine. People’s skin can react when sap from certain plants such as giant hogweed, as well as carrots, celery and limes, gets on the skin and is then exposed to sunlight. The areas affected become acutely red, and often blister.
Tyler, from Reading, Berkshire, said: “I gave Imelda a celery stick for something to chew on and never really questioned it in my mind. 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. It looked like burns, I was really concerned.
I thought she was sunburnt somehow. "Then I was meeting up with my friend for dinner that evening and told her about what happened. She said 'she hasn't had celery has she?' My heart just dropped.
“Apart from her, none of my friends had heard of it before. I looked online and saw it could cause all sorts of burns and blisters and thought we'd got away with this. She only had a bit of redness ar.
