I thought sunbeds would get my skin ‘ready’ for my holiday but I ended up swollen & blistered – no amount of SPF helped
A YOUNG woman has revealed how a plan to get her skin “ready” for her holiday massively backfired.
Elise Smith has been called “insane” and “ridiculous” for the plan – which saw her end up with a blistering face and sun poisoning.
She jetted off to Puerto Rico with a friend last month and had been using sunbeds for three months in preparation for the trip.
Elise thought by exposing her skin to UV radiation beforehand, she wouldn’t need to apply SPF to her face.
However, the oversight meant she woke up on her second day of the holiday with a swollen and red face.
Shortly after, her skin started blistering.
She shared pictures of the sun damage in a now-viral TikTok video.
“Now I can’t have my face in the sun for the rest of the trip without seven layers of sunscreen,” she said.
Shockingly, this isn’t the first time that Elise has experienced sun poisoning and blistering on her face from not wearing SPF.
She had an identical situation in June last year after falling asleep in direct sunlight.
“How does that logic even make sense?” one social media user commented on Elise’s video.
“You’re absolutely clueless,” another penned.
“I wear sunscreen all the time, even if the UV index is low, or it’s cloudy, or I just simply don’t need it,” a third said.
“But it helps with ageing and wrinkles too.”
However, Elise doubled down in her response, saying: “That’s what Botox is for.”
She also replied to other comments insisting that you “don’t need” to wear SPF on your face every day.
The importance of sun cream in your skincare routine
Dermatologist and skincare enthusiast Andrea Suarez - known as Dr Dray - revealed why you should wear suncream.
The one thing you can do that will make the biggest difference – and this matters for all ages – is protecting your skin from the sun, Andrea stressed.
“The vast majority of external aging is due to exposure to ultraviolet radiation,” she continued, not because you’re “not using some jazzy serum or layering 90 different things on your face everyday”.
“If you’re not doing in your 20s, get on that now.”
But she said the use of sun cream alone doesn’t go far enough. Andrea urged that you also wear sun-protective clothing like broad-brimmed hats and long sleeves, on top of not staying out too long in the sun.
Doing this over your lifetime – and all year, not just during the summer or on sunny days – “will reduce the visible signs of photoageing”, Andrea said.
Those are wrinkles, muddled pigmentation and sagging skin.
Sun poisoning, also known as severe sunburn or photodermatitis, is an extreme reaction of the skin to prolonged exposure to sunlight.
It’s more severe than a typical sunburn and can cause symptoms such as blistering, pain, swelling, redness, fever, chills, headache, nausea and dehydration.
In some cases, it can even lead to dizziness, fainting and hallucinations.
The NHS urges anyone with skin that is blistered or swollen from being out in the sun to ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111.
“Severe sunburn can lead to heat exhaustion and heatstroke, which can be very serious,” docs warned.
“Getting sunburnt can increase your risk of skin cancer.”