Mom Issues Warning To Parents After Son Suffers Serious Burn From Fruit

A mom has issued a warning to parents after her son suffered a serious burn after playing with a piece of lime outside in the sunlight. Tiny Hearts Education (THE) - an Australian company that provides health training for parents online - recently shared some upsetting photos of a toddler with some serious red burns on his skin.

Instagram/ Tiny Hearts

In the Instagram post, the company recalled one mom's story about her toddler, emphasizing that everyone should be aware of injuries that can be caused by seemingly harmless everyday things.

The mom shared the incident that caused the "margarita burn" to her son, Otis.

"My son Otis was playing with a whole lime off our lime tree earlier that afternoon," the mom recalled. "...As parents, we thought nothing of it. How often do you see citrus fruits involved in parts of sensory play... And as an Occupational Therapist, I'm all for fun sensory activities!"

Instagram/ Tiny Hearts

Everything was fine until a day later when Otis’ mom noticed a rash had developed on the boy’s chest.

"What we thought was an allergic reaction to a juice he had that morning was actually the start of a not widely known reaction called a "Margarita burn" (also known as phytophotodermatitis)," she said. "[It] is a burn that results when a chemical called furocoumarin reacts with sunlight. This chemical is found in limes and other citrus fruit."

Cavan Images / Alamy

After rushing him to the doctors, the mom was disappointed when they had "no real answers" for her, so instead, she started doing her own research into the matter.

"I started doing more of my own research and was able to put two and two together… the small lime he had been innocently playing with on Friday had now burnt his skin horrifically!"

She later added that thankfully there would be no long-term scarring or any further health implications and that the family were going to regular appointments to ensure the best treatment is given to Otis.

At the end of the post, Tiny Hearts Education offered some more advice on how to look out for warning signs:

"If your skin comes into contact with the chemical and the chemical becomes activated, a reaction can occur," they wrote. "Your little one may be at a greater risk if you have a history of contact dermatitis with other substances, such as metals and cleaning agents."

“Remember not everyone will experience phytophotodermatitis after exposure to furocoumarin,” 

"I hope by sharing my story I can raise some awareness about phytophotodermatitis and the importance of watching little ones around any citrus fruits. If our story can help raise awareness into phytophotodermatitis at least something good has come out of our horrific experience," the mom added.

Parents were vocally thankful for the timely PSA heading into summer.

"I'd read/heard about this before but didn't realise it could be this bad! I thought it would just be a bad sunburn. Gosh, that's terrifying!"

"I had something similar to this in January. It was the most painful experience in my life. The reaction occurred on my back. Four days of excruciating pain as if I was so sunburnt," another added.

"OMG, I have never heard of this! So timely especially with summer coming up! My little one loves citrus fruits and often wants to bite the skin as well!" declared another.