Warning for those in the Southern Hemisphere

Hi Guys,

Just a warning for all fellow Kiwis and aussies here in this forum.

My eldest child is a surfie, so she is out in the sun and surf for hrs at a time.... hrs. A very sunsmart kid.

Yesterday she went to surf with a friend.. and was only out in the afternoon sun (from 1pm) for 3 hrs, with sunscreen on.

Last night I was in A&E with her most of the night. She got so badly burnt that she has second degree burns all over the exposed parts of her body.. particularly on her thighs. It was so bad that the doc had to give her an injection of pethadine.

This on a day that was not even particularly hot.

I was totally shocked, so was she. As I said this kid is out in the surf and sun all the time.. although not for the past 4 weeks due to school finals.

She has a darker olive coloured skin like myself, which comes from Italian and irish heritage. Generally speaking my family does not get sun burnt at all, we just go darker brown. She is totally scarlet, like a boiled lobster... no kidding. I have never in all her life (18 yrs), seen her red at all, let alone as red as this.

Something is definately up with our sun. So take this as a warning to make sure that you guys use heaps and heaps of sunscreen if you are going to be out, and constantly reapply it.

It is not safe out there anymore.

What's more, the doc told me that he has seen several people like my babe in the past few days.

Be aware, and please be extra sunwise guys.

Cheers
Marianne