After being told by three doctors (two dermatologists and one general practice) that my crazy skin reaction was a lime burn, I decided to believe them rather than all the people who were telling me that it's not possible for lime to do that.
Here's what happens. If someone has citric juices on them (be it from limes, lemons, oranges, etc.) and then is exposes to the sun, phytophotodermatitis occurs-- or simply, you get burned. This can also happen with other plants like certain meadow grasses, parsley, celery, and fig leaves.
It's often misdiagnosed because each person has different reactions depending on their skin, the amount or the irritant, and the amount of sun exposure. Some simply have miscoloration, others get what looks like a sun burn, and other (like me) burn badly enough to blister and swell.
So how not to get a lime burn? Wash yourself thoroughly with soap and water after cooking with limes or making lemonade or limeade. If you've got it? Hydrocortisone cream and no more sun is the key to it healing.
For more information, check out this report that I found:
3 comments:
Hi Tessie -
got back from Costa Rica on New Yr's Eve '08-'09, a weekend, the day after noticing a weird streak down one arm.
I was panicked because I thought it was a parasite travelling through my body & my doctor wouldn't be in over the holidays!
She did think it was a harmless-to-humans parasite, and sent me to the Tropical Diseases Clinic, here in Toronto. I just had the appointment today.
Both docs who had a look at me say it is 'limes' disease for certain. Whew! No nematodes.
Mine wasn't as severe as yours, just really creepy. I was planning to get a tattoo over the scar to hide it but I learned it should be gone in a few months.
Who knew making margaritas by the pool coud be so dangerous....
Happy Trails!
Jagna
I'm going through this same thing right now! I go back for a third biopsy tomorrow. This picture is EXACTLY what's on my hand. Too many things the same...limes, same visually, same area of hand, etc. Thanks for posting this. Very bizarre! At least I was cooking Mexican and had a rum and coke with lime before I got in the sun that day. How long did it take for yours to go away? Did you keep it covered until it was better?
Thanks again,
SJK
Mine did go away after a while... mostly. If you know where to look, you can kind of see it. I went to a dermatologist and he gave me hydrocortisone which helped. (But be careful with it, because it can also bleach skin.) Also, I put scar stuff on it for a while. The first week or so I did keep it covered. After that I tried to put sunscreen on it before spending a day at the beach.
Overall, I wasn't nearly as careful as I could have been. I picked at the dry skin, I left it in the sun, I would forget to put the creams on... But it still healed.
Oh! And take multivitamins! That's always a good idea, but especially if you want something to heal because if you're lacking some vitamin or mineral, it can really slow down the process.
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