It could’ve been right out of a horror movie.

Robyn Youngjohn, daughter of my neighbors Bob and Lee Maldegan in Petoskey, was up from Texas over the summer, visiting with her three young daughters.

She has an extended scar down her right thigh and around her knee, and one afternoon she mentioned it, so I asked how it happened.

Robyn said she and her husband, Mark, were having Coronas on the beach near their home and there was nowhere to put the requisite limes, so she was using her legs as a table.

I gasped!

I pictured the knife plunging into her thigh, marring not only her beautiful skin but also a perfectly good, rare evening without the children. I pictured her pouring the rest of the Coronas on the gaping wound to sterilize it while Mark carried her hurriedly to the car and off to the hospital for stitches, probably even surgery.

Not so much.

It turns out it was the lime juice that left the scar, not the knife.

“I cut the lime over my lap and laid the pieces on my leg,” Robyn said. “The red irritated skin with blisters showed up the next day. My general practitioner had difficulty placing the unusual skin rash, but prescribed a steroid cream. When the cream didn’t improve the situation, I went to see a dermatologist and he diagnosed it right away.”
It’s called phytophotodermatitis: A skin reaction caused by naturally occurring plant chemicals which become toxic only when activated by ultraviolet light.

In the sunshine, lime juice can cause severe burns on the skin, which is what happened to Robyn. The burns, she said, did not initially hurt, but as they blistered the following day, they became sore. By the end of the week, and with the proper medication, the blisters went away, leaving bright red marks on her arms and legs.

She even has a lime-wedge-shaped mark on her right thigh.

“The lime juice dribbled down the inside of my leg to the back, so I had red scars all the way around my leg. Then the juice squirted droplets on my left leg and arm so I have spots that also turned bright red and blistered,” Robyn said. “Gradually, the scars turned from bright red to dark and are finally beginning to fade. My doctor said it would take a few weeks, but now that I still have the scars two months later, I’m pretty sure I’ll have them the rest of my life.”
 

Sunburning substances

Several plants and their juices and medications can cause phytophotodermatitis, including topical acne medications, oral antibiotics, antifungals and even ibuprofen.

According to reporting by Canadian Chemical News, such reactions can actually be traced to furocoumarins, compounds found in citrus fruits as well as in parsley, dill, parsnips and chrysanthemums. These furocoumarins are known to be the cause of “celery handlers’ disease” — a condition which sometimes afflicts produce handlers as well as cashiers and baggers in fruit and vegetable stores. The problem is usually seen from April to August, when the workers come off their shift and are exposed to sunlight. The worst rashes develop in people who have handled aging celery; furocoumarins are produced as cellular tissues decompose.

The interaction of sunlight with perfumes is also known to cause sun-allergy reactions as well.

Youngjohn isn’t alone in the burning caused by limes. The CCN reported one case of woman at a Club Med resort who was burned on her thighs after playing a prurient game of pass-the-lime. And in another case, a child was picked up by his father who had just made a gin and tonic on the beach, into which he had squeezed lime juice. The man must have still had lime juice on his hands when he picked up his son, because the boy developed a perfect handprint after playing in the sun.

And one of Robyn’s friends even had the phytophotodermatitis experience: “Interestingly, a friend of mine was in Cabo and she spilled a margarita on her arm, with the same results.”
 
Do you have any unusual or unique health-related experiences to share with readers? Please e-mail bpiehl@petoskeynews.com.