A student’s first £5,000 holiday in three years was ‘ruined’ after he developed painful blisters despite ‘applying liberally’ a factor 50 sunscreen.
Kainen Ellis, 11, traveled to Turkey with his family on July 1 and stayed at the three-star Eftalia Splash Resort in Antalya – his first vacation since the beginning of the year Covid-19 Pandemic.
However, it wasn’t long before the fun was ruined and the boy ended up with painful blisters despite being smothered with Nivea factor 50 sunscreen for kids.
Kainen’s mother, Jessica Ellis, 35, had flown abroad with the schoolboy along with her partner Lee Tatt, 39, and their sons and daughter Primrose, three.
She claimed that Kainen had to spend the second week of her vacation in the hotel room, visiting the doctors every morning, where a nurse squeezed the blisters that had appeared all over his arms and shoulders.
His brother Preston, eight, reportedly used a different sunscreen but wore the Nivea cream on his nose, which “also quickly broke out in blisters”.
Ms Ellis says she was heartbroken by what happened to her little boy – and is now warning parents against using the well-known sunscreen.
Nivea said it takes safety complaints “extremely seriously” and is in touch with the family to find out what happened.
Kainen Ellis, 11, traveled to Turkey with his family on July 1 and stayed at the three-star Eftalia Splash Resort hotel in Antalya – his first vacation since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic
However, it wasn’t long before the fun was ruined and the boy ended up with painful blisters despite being smothered with Nivea factor 50 sunscreen for kids
Towards the end of the first week, the mother-of-three claimed Kainen’s torso was extremely red and sore – but thought it was just a hint of sunburn
But the stay-at-home mum, who lives with Lee and their three children in Retford, Nottinghamshire, said: “I’m disgusted with Nivea.
“This was our first holiday since 2019 and it cost us all £5,000 but my son’s holiday was ruined after he used his sunscreen.
“He was covered in blisters on his arms and shoulders. He was in absolute agony.
“I cried when I first saw the blisters and now I’m heartbroken for my boys as it could scar them.
“I will never use the sunscreen again – it’s a well known brand and I’m just so disappointed.”
Ms Ellis’ friend Chloe, her boyfriend and their baby joined the family on holiday, who last visited Spain in 2019.
Ms. Ellis “covered her kids in sunscreen” and liberally applied Nivea Kids Sun Cream Trigger Spray SPF50 to Kainen’s “shoulders and arms.”
Kainen’s mother, Jessica Ellis, 35, (pictured) had flown abroad with the schoolboy along with her partner Lee Tatt, 39, and their sons and daughter Primrose, three
By the end of the first week, she claimed that Kainen’s torso was extremely red and sore – but thought it was just a hint of sunburn.
It was not until the morning of July 8th, when Kainen woke up with painful, huge blisters on his arms and shoulders, that Mrs. Ellis realized how much he was suffering.
Ms Ellis said: “He didn’t sleep that night, he was in agony and just rolled over in his bed in pain while we all slept.
“I left him in bed in the morning when we went downstairs for breakfast so he could catch up on sleep as he hadn’t slept at all.
“When I came back upstairs he was standing in front of the mirror in total panic when he could see the big bubbles in his reflection.
“He had huge blisters on his arms and shoulders, they looked so painful.
Ms Ellis “covered her children in sunscreen” and “laid generously on Nivea Kids Sun Cream Trigger Spray SPF50” on Kainen’s “shoulders and arms.”
“I was crying and he was thinking about what could be worse, what could happen to him.
“I called my partner and we quickly got him to the doctors at the hotel. We had to go to the nurse every morning to pop the blisters as they kept coming.’
Kainen “stayed in the hotel room for the entire second week of his holiday” while his siblings, who were said to be using a different sunscreen, had to “keep playing in the sun”.
On flying back home to the UK on July 15, Ms Ellis took him to A&E, where doctors cleaned up the blisters and told the mother-of-three to apply a cooling cream until the blisters went away.
His skin has steadily improved, but Ms Ellis fears her little boy could be left physically scarred from the ordeal and is urging parents not to buy sunscreen.
She said: “I’m disgusted with Nivea.
Kainen flew back to the UK on July 15 and took him to the emergency room, where doctors treated the blisters and told the mother-of-three to apply cooling cream until the blisters went away
“The bottle says it protects you from burns, but look at what happened to my boy.
“I didn’t use this sunscreen at all on Primrose and she was fine. I put a little bit on Preston’s nose and it ended up blistering too.
“Kainen didn’t want to leave the hotel room until the day we went home as he was too embarrassed about what people would think.
“He got a lot of looks and people asking questions when we took him to the doctors every morning.
“I’m heartbroken for my boys as it could leave scars.
“It absolutely ruined the second week of Kainen’s holiday as he was enjoying himself beforehand.
“I will never use the sunscreen again – it’s a well known brand and I’m just so disappointed.”
Ms Ellis said: “Kainen didn’t want to leave the hotel room until the day we went home as he was too embarrassed about what people would think.”
A spokesman for Nivea said: “As the world’s leading sun protection brand*, we are committed to developing products that reliably and effectively protect against sun damage. We take every safety complaint very seriously as consumer confidence in the safety of our products is our top priority.
“We are currently in contact with the consumer to learn more about what happened in this case and to obtain relevant product information that will assist us in our urgent investigation.
“We test each of our NIVEA SUN formulations and their marked SPFs strictly according to internationally standardized test methods at independent testing institutes, so that we can always guarantee the consistent, high-quality effectiveness and consumer safety of all NIVEA SUN products.
“We want to emphasize the importance of reapplying sunscreen regularly and seeking shade and covering up whenever possible when spending time in the sun, especially between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. when the sun is at its most intense.”
