A woman was left shocked after her face began to swell up while she was enjoying her holiday in the sun.
Excited for a trip away, Tara Omidi from Oldham, Manchester, travelled to Lanzarote, an island off the coast of Africa.
Just a few days into the holiday, the 30-year-old woke up to notice her skin puffing up.
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Hours later, things went from bad to worse.
Tara was terrified that she might have to go to the hospital.
She rushed to the local chemist for advice and was told to stay firmly out of the sun and to monitor her symptoms.
“I woke up with a swollen forehead and eye and it gradually got worse by the hour,” Tara told Luxury Travel Daily.
“Luckily, there was no pain.
“I went to the chemist in Lanzarote and was provided with strong antihistamines and they advised that I should keep my face covered for the rest of my holiday.
“I’ve never in my life had an allergic reaction or had sun poisoning.”
Thankfully, three days later, the swelling subsided slightly.
Tara was still left worrying whether she would get any problems at passport control on her way home.
She said: “I was a little nervous about going through passport control as I didn’t look like myself.”
Since arriving back home, she’s taken to TikTok with a video to showcase the extreme swelling on the right side of her face – with her eye nearly forced shut.
And to warn others about the dangers of sun poisoning.
The islands are known for being extremely windy, which can make the temperatures feel cooler.
This in turn often leads to people not realising just how strong the sun really is.
Tara said: “When I went onto TikTok and asked people what had happened, everyone was saying the Canary Islands are quite known for sun poisoning.
“Because of the strong heat and with it being quite windy as well, you don’t realise how hot it is.
“Many people that I’ve spoken to said when they went to the Canary Islands they all had the same thing which was sun poisoning.”
Viewers also shared their own experience with sun poisoning in the comments.
One person wrote: “Sun poisoning this happened to me in Lanzarote!!! I had to go to the hospital to have an injection in my bum lol.”
Another viewer said: “This happened to my mum in Turkey she had to have an injection and antibiotics over there… never had it ever before and just happened.”
“Defo sun poisoning. It ruined my holiday,” wrote a third user.
“Wow I had this on my henndo in tenerife and thought it was my eyeshadow! never even heard of sun poisoning,” commented someone else.
Another person added: “Sun poisoning my face swelled so bad was like that for 3 days until it went down.”
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