A mother has issued a warning to parents after her young daughter suffered serious burns to her face when she brushed against a wild parsnip plant. Ella Cain was playing innocently in the backyard when she smelled and touched a plant with delicate yellow petals. The next morning, her mother, Audrey Cain, noticed small blisters forming on the two-year-old’s skin.
Initially thinking it was poison ivy, the 27-year-old business owner applied chamomile lotion to relieve the itch. However, by the end of the day, the blisters had burst into large, painful burns all over Ella’s body, including her arms, legs, cheeks and nose, he reported. Sun.
After researching the plant online, Audrey realized it was a wild parsnip, a plant that can cause a skin condition known as phytophotodermatitis. Although the root of the plant is edible, the plant sap found on the surface is toxic and prevents the skin from protecting itself from the sun’s rays, causing serious burns when exposed to natural light.
The panicked mother of four called doctors, who advised her to use hydrocortisone to soothe Ella’s burned skin and keep her away from sunlight. As a result, Ella had to wear long-sleeved clothes and play in the shade all summer long.
Now fully healed, Audrey shares the three-year-old’s experience to warn other parents about the potentially toxic plant that may be lurking in their gardens. Wild parsnip is common throughout England, particularly in the south and south-east, and in Wales.
Audrey, from Vassalboro, Maine, USA, said: “It was heartbreaking to see her in so much pain with those burns all over her. We have that plant all over our property. We just thought it was some kind of flowering plant; “We never knew it was dangerous.”
She continued: “It was in our backyard. She never picked them, she just smelled one and then just touched the stems. We didn’t think about any of that. The next thing she knew, she got all these burns, and they got progressively worse over the next few days, even all over her face.”
The doctor recommended Audrey treat Ella’s burns with hydrocortisone cream and keep her away from sunlight to avoid further irritation. “She said she was itchy and painful, so we used chamomile lotion and then switched to hydrocortisone. To heal it we used vitamin E oil. The burns lasted up to two weeks before healing. All that time she said how painful she was.” Audrey concluded, “I’m sharing what happened so people realize and know to stay away from it.”
