Woman left 'looking like Quasimodo' from severe sunburn after using CARROT tanning oil
A WOMAN was left "looking like Quasimodo" from an extreme reaction to the sun – after using carrot tanning oil.
Bethany Mason's face began to swell up and became so puffy she lost her sight.
The 21-year-old said she didn't realise the carrot oil contained no SPF, and as a result suffered sun poisoning while on holiday in Turkey.
Sun poisoning is an extreme sunburn which happens when someone is exposed to ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun for too long.
She said her eyes were swollen shut and her skin felt "mushy".
Bethany, from Newcastle upon Tyne, spoke out to raise awareness of the dangers of using oil without sun protection factor (SPF).
She said: "A friend of mine had come back looking so brown – so when I asked her what she'd used, and she'd said carrot oil, I got myself some for the holiday.
"I looked a bit like Quasimodo. Or that creep from the film Wrong Turn. It just didn't look real.
"My eyes were swollen shut. I didn't look like a person.
"I had to stay under the umbrella, or indoors, for the treatment to work.
"I'd be sitting around the pool and my boyfriend would be like – 'Bethany, please put your glasses back on! People are staring!' "Poor Callum – we'd only been going out two months at that point. He was shocked. Luckily it only lasted a few days."
Bethany was in Marmaris, Turkey, last June when she used 'Malibu Fast Tanning Oil' with Carotene during a day by the pool.
She said she felt "really under the weather" after their first day, spent round the Grand Pasa Hotel pool.
She even checked her temperature after her sports coach boyfriend Callum, 25, said she looked ill – but went out to enjoy the nightlife anyway.
Bethany said her forehead felt "a little mushy, like it was full of water".
When the pair woke up the next morning, Callum got the fright of his life as Bethany's face had swollen beyond all recognition.
The reaction was so bad, she couldn't see anything because her eyelids had swollen.
She and Callum – "who was beside himself" – rushed downstairs to the hotel concierge, and a nurse called for a doctor who diagnosed sun poisoning.
She had a couple of injections and was given tablets to treat the severe swelling.
After three days, Bethany's swelling had gone, but she had to stay out of the sun.
She said: "I didn't even get a tan, I came back all pale like before I went away."
She said the oil she used was a Malibu brand.
A spokesperson for Malibu said: "There are many possible causes of the reaction and we suggest that she seeks the opinion of a doctor or dermatologist.
"It is possible that she is allergic to something she has put on her skin, all ingredients we use in our products are common ingredients and we believe it would be in her interest to find out what it is that she is allergic to.
"The product she has used has no SPF inside.
"It is just a tanning oil and we advise on the bottle for 'dark skin' and we reiterate that it provides no protection from the sun.
"This is the first complaint we have received with regards to this particular product."
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