Baby, woman suffer burns after nasty sunscreen reaction
A Queensland mother has taken to social media to warn other parents about a Cancer Council sunscreen she says gave her baby a horrible rash.
Jessie Swan said her three-month-old son was in hospital for three days after a reaction to the 50+ sunscreen with Peppa Pig on the front.
And Ms Swan wasn’t alone, with a Sydney beauty queen also suffering first and second degree burns after using the same product.
Mother-of-two Kim Cancellier said she bought the Cancer Council sunscreen and decided to test it on herself before putting it on her three and five-year-old daughters.
“Instead of acting as a sunscreen and protecting me from the suns rays it had an opposite effect and turned me BRIGHT red, completely and utterly burnt,” Ms Cancellier said in her Facebook post.
“I went to trusty old Google to read reviews only to discover I'm not the only person who has had this issue.”
The 31-year-old said she was disgusted the product failed to protect her in the two hours she was in the sun at Dee Why beach last month.
Ms Cancellier, a Miss Universe Australia, said she had been forced to turn down work opportunities as her skin recovers from the serious burns doctors have said is likely from a chemical reaction.
Ms Swan said she chose to post an image of her son to show other parents the possible effects.
“He has not been in the sun, he was simply outdoors so I put screen on him just in case,” she said.
“This is not sunburn, this is a reaction to the cream.”
Ms Swan’s Facebook post has been shared almost 7000 times with more than 3500 comments from other parents having similar experiences with a range of sunscreen brands.
The Cancer Council of Australia did reach out to both mothers and issued a statement on its Facebook page.
“We would like to reassure everyone that our Cancer Council Kids sunscreen has been formulated to be as suitable for delicate skin as possible,” a spokesperson said.
“Please also be reassured that every product we release onto the market is approved by the TGA and meets very strict regulatory and quality standards.”
