A mother has warned her parents to be careful of heatwaves as her son suffered a second degree burn after spending the day at the beach despite using sunscreen. Laura Daly said that her 15-year-old son Rían needed hospital treatment after getting sunburnt.
Ms Daly and Rían, from Shankhill, Co Dublin, were spending time at Greystones Beach with their family members, including younger children. Rían’s mother said he spent most of the time in the sea and that whenever he got out of the water she reapplied the suncream.
She said she was unaware that the suncream would not dry quickly and that her son had entered the water before the cream had dried, causing it to be washed away. “It was a silly mistake that I didn’t make him sit for five to 10 minutes to let it actually dry in,” Ms Daly said.
Rían’s mother said that her son felt nauseous when they returned home on Saturday afternoon. She tried to get some cooling gel and other treatments for him from nearby pharmacies, but they were all sold out.
The severity of the sunburn became evident only after Rian went to take a shower later that day. “He was screaming in the shower. He said ‘I am burning from the inside out, help me’,” Ms Daly said.
She rushed him to St Columcille’s Hospital in Loughlinstown’s A&E, where a doctor informed her that he suffered first and second-degree burns. Rían was treated with burn gel and painkillers. He received burns on his back, left side, and legs. Ms Daly said Rían was allowed to go home a few hours later and is recovering well.
She shared photos of her son’s sunburn on social media at the doctor’s request. Ms Daly said: “She [doctor] said to me, would you do me a favour and post those pictures so people can be more aware. I thought yes, this is a good idea. It was a genuine mistake on our behalf, all the other kids are fine.”
Ms Daly advises anyone going to the beach or anywhere there is water to apply suncream and to let it dry in for at least 20 minutes. “Apply it before you leave the house. Hopefully this will help prevent someone else from doing it too,” she added.
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