The woman’s face is so swollen from sunburn that her own sister no longer recognizes him
I fell asleep in the sun and my face was so swollen my own SISTER couldn’t even recognize me
A holidaymaker has revealed how her face became so swollen from sunburn that her own sister didn’t recognize it – after falling asleep on the beach for five hours.
Isabela Chatwin, 21, of Utah, was seen ballooning her face until she looked like “a giant marshmallow” after deciding not to wear sunscreen while vacationing with friends in San Diego, California.
The 21-year-old assumed she wouldn’t need an SPF because it was an overcast day and she only planned to take a short nap on the beach.
But four days later, the interior designer woke up to find her face was so swollen she couldn’t see and her skin had burst into painful blisters.
When she returned to her hometown, her three-year-old sister Aero was confused because she didn’t recognize her big sister.
Isabela Chatwin seen her face balloon until she looked like “a giant marshmallow” after deciding not to wear sunscreen while vacationing with friends in San Diego, California
In hilarious footage, the stunned youngster asks in the doctor’s waiting room, “Is that Bela?” while mom Kim, 54, reassures her.
Isabela said, “I fell asleep on the beach for five hours. When I woke up my skin looked fine for the rest of the day, the next morning it was bright red.
“I thought it was just a sunburn and that’s as bad as it was going to get. I woke up the next day and it was swollen and blistered on my cheeks and it was painful.
“On the fourth day, my face was so swollen and the blisters had popped out. I could hardly open my eyes, I could hardly see.
“I thought it would be permanent. I was very scared. It hardly looked human. It was like a giant marshmallow, just all swollen up.
“When I got home, I wore a surgical mask to hide it, so Aero knew by my voice that it was me.
“I took it off at the doctors for the first time and then she saw that my face was completely different and she ran to my mom and said, ‘Is that Bela?’
“I teased her and said ‘my name was Jessica, nice to meet you’. Then she said I looked like a turtle.’
Isabela went on vacation to San Diego, California with friends and assumed she didn’t need sunscreen because it was overcast. Pictured: After the swelling had healed (left) when her face was swollen (right)
The 21-year-old assumed she wouldn’t need an SPF because it was an overcast day and she only planned to take a short nap on the beach. In the photo: Isabela before she fell asleep
When she returned to her hometown of Lehi, Utah, her three-year-old sister Aero was confused because she didn’t recognize her big sister. In the photo: Isabela and Aero
She said she would be ‘very careful’ in hot weather and said she would wear sunscreen if she was out for more than an hour
After rushing to see a doctor, she was diagnosed with sun poisoning, prescribed steroid creams and told to stay out of the sun for three weeks.
Sun poisoning is a serious case of sunburn, a reaction to the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays.
Isabela shared the footage on TikTok last week, five years after the incident, and says she spoke out to warn others about the importance of wearing sunscreen no matter how cloudy the sky is.
Isabela said, “It’s funny looking back, but it was excruciatingly painful. I usually wear sunscreen because I have very light skin.
‘It was a cloudy day, it had rained and I didn’t realize I was going to sleep so long.
“It doesn’t matter what the sky looks like, if you’re outside and the sun is shining, protect your skin anyway.”
“I’m very careful now. I use sunscreen if I’m outside for more than an hour and I don’t use a sunbed because I don’t want to take the risk.’