A mother of two says her children’s sunburns shattered their holiday in Gran Canaria and caused them so much pain that she needs to warn others of the dangers of not using a recognized brand of sunscreen. Carlien Pretorius, of Rogerstone, Newport, had been in Gran Canaria for hours with his children Joshua, 11, and Luke, again last week when he noticed that they had both started to burn.
Despite applying SPF (sun protection factor) 50 and wearing T-shirts, Carlien said Joshua’s burns became so severe that he decided to take photos and post them on social media. Carlien said he used sunscreen they had bought at a store labeled “parapharmacy” on the island.
After the burns became so severe, he says that he took his children back to the same store where they gave him an ointment to put on his skin, spending a total of € 110. “It made it a lot worse and then led us to go to the public doctor’s office where they gave us wonderful free advice,” he said.
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The image shared by Carlien below shows Joshua’s skin today, almost a week after the initial burn. “When the skin is wet you can see how thin it still is and how far it still has to go for a complete cure,” he explained.
Joshua is still suffering from the effects for almost a week (Image: Carlien Pretorius) Carlien said the burn provided to Joshua worsened the condition (Image: Carlien Pretorius)
“The boys got burned just for being in the pool despite having over 50 sunscreens and T-shirts. The sunscreen I bought was from the pharmacy. Really shocking. I think there must be something wrong, maybe it’s obsolete, or it could be the wrong sunscreen for your age.
“They were both in a lot of pain and I had to give them Calpol regularly, which luckily I had brought with me from the UK. Joshua was mostly in absolute agony.
“I was very worried, I secretly cried in worry while they slept. I’m still worried it will cause permanent scarring.” To stay up to date with Newport news, visit our Newport homepage here, and you can also sign up for our Newport newsletter here.
Luke’s burns he had despite having a factor of 50, as well as a T-shirt (Image: Carlien Pretorius) Damage to Joshua’s skin as a result of a sunburn in Gran Canaria (Image: Carlien Pretorius)
Carlien said he blamed the store that sold him the sunscreen on the island, the global warming he believes made the island “much hotter than when we came here eight years ago,” and herself for “not being able to protect my children.” of this horrible thing that happens to them ”.
“I am very grateful to the public doctors for the free advice of our EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) cards,” he said. “We will always remember this holiday disaster and we will probably remember it for the rest of our lives through the possible scars.”
After spending much of his holiday watching Spanish TV channels in his hotel room, Carlien said he believes he needs to offer advice to other people planning to go abroad in warm weather.
After Carlien managed to take his children to a doctor, he said that the situation started to improve, thanks to the burns of Luke (Image: Carlien Pretorius) which he received even though he was wearing a factor 50 and a T-shirt (Image :: Carlien Pretorius)
He added: “It was really disastrous because we had to spend five or six days of our two-week annual vacation in a warm apartment with nothing to do. We couldn’t go swimming or going out because we desperately needed to keep them out of the way. ground.
“My advice would be; Bring your sunscreen with you from the UK, bring Calpol for children and all other medicines from the UK, avoid the sun between 12:00 and 16:00, bring your EHIC cards when you are on holiday in the foreigner and check all the tips, even the small print. about products, when you are in a foreign country “.
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