Boy gets so badly sunburned he needed surgery after using ‘expired’ suncream

A mum claims her son was severely sunburned despite having SPF cream ‘continuously’ applied.

Natalie Harvey says her 10-year-old son Hector appeared fine after spending two hours enjoying a swimming pool in Cape Verde during 29°C heat just before the family flew home last month.

At the airport he became drowsy and hot, and by the time they got home in Nottingham he had developed huge blisters all over his shoulders, upper chest and back.

Natalie called 111 and was told to bring Hector to hospital, where he had surgery to have the blisters burst and cleaned.

‘I couldn’t believe he was sunburned,’ she said. ‘He had been wearing the highest sun cream factor I had ever seen [SPF 90] and he was burnt.’

She says the doctors who treated Hector suspect the cream may have been out-of-date or counterfeit.

The family ran out of their UK-bought sun cream on the last day of the trip, when Natalie’s partner bought another bottle from their hotel’s shop.

She claims Hector and his brother Ben applied the cream half an hour before going outside and that she then ‘continuously’ reapplied it after.

‘I popped down into the sun for about 30 minutes and didn’t wear the cream and I didn’t have any issues but my partner Ben who also wore the sun cream was terribly burnt too,’ Natalie added.

‘I felt sick when I saw the blisters and I wished it was me.

‘I couldn’t understand what had gone wrong.

‘I knew I had reapplied the sun cream and done everything right and while I’m still beating myself up, it is incredibly unfair as I purchased something in good faith and it didn’t work.’

Hector had to spend several days in hospital and had to stay bandaged up for nearly a week after being discharged.

Natalie continued: ‘I don’t think he’ll be left with any scars but at the moment he’s blotchy and has lots of red patches all over him.

‘He looks like he’s had hot water thrown over him. This skin will be extremely sensitive particularly for the next two years.

‘I’m always careful with my children wearing sun cream which is the heartbreaking thing about the situation.

‘My children’s health and wellbeing is paramount and there is nothing more important, especially in the sun.’

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