During the summer months, I love making lemonade and cocktails for my family and friends. This means I’m often chopping and squeezing limes, lemons and oranges. But did you know there’s a hidden danger to handling citrus fruits in the sunshine?
Morgan Moore recently experienced this first hand when she was making drinks for a barbecue. She was preparing limes and rinsed her hands before going outside, but it wasn’t enough to remove the juice. After a short time in the sun, she noticed her hands were blistering and burning.
“I went under the sink and kind of rinsed it off but I didn’t thoroughly wash it off and then I went out in the sun and I didn’t put any sunscreen on anywhere cause I was only out for 30 minutes,” Morgan told CBS. “It was probably one of the worst pains I’ve ever felt. It was bad.”
She suffered painful, third-degree chemical burns! For two weeks, she was unable to use her hands and it will take over a month for her hands to heal.
Apparently, the condition she experienced is called phytophotodermatitis. It’s caused by the way the chemicals in the citrus juice interacts with UV light, which results in blistering and burning your skin.
Experts suggest washing your skin thoroughly and then applying sunscreen to remove the risk of this toxic chemical reaction. Lime juice and sun should definitely not be mixed!
Share this important safety tip with your family and friends!
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