Emilia Azarova, 17, jetted off to Thailand for a much-needed holiday but was soon left so badly sunburned that her lips swelled up as if she had “filler” with blisters all over her face
A teenage holidaymaker was left “traumatised” after she got sunburn so extreme on her first day in Thailand that it left her needing hospital treatment for the blisters across her face.
Emilia Azarova jetted off to Koh Samui for a Muay Thai fighting competition on June 13th and went for a two-hour swim in the ocean on her first day. The 17-year-old law student admits she did not think to put on sun cream as the sun did not feel ‘hot’ while she was swimming, but by the time she got out her lips had swollen up as if she had ‘filler’.
The next day, Emilia woke up to find her eyes and face swollen and painful to move, but put it down to being just badly sunburnt. However a few days later, the student developed blisters on her nose, forehead and chin that felt like a ‘stabbing’ pain – and the blisters kept ballooning.
Emilia, who starts in university in September went to the local hospital where she said she was given an injection to stop the swelling and cream to put on her face. But Emilia claims moving her face still felt ‘achy’ and started peeling, leaving her ‘crying in pain’ and unable to train for her fighting competition.
She admits the incident ruined a week of her trip so is sharing her ordeal as a warning to others to always wear sun cream. Emilia, from North West London, Greater London, said: “I’m really traumatised, I’m not leaving my apartment without a shirt, a cap and three layers of sun cream.
“I don’t even care about being hot and sweaty, I’d rather cover myself than that happening again. It definitely needs more awareness because when people go to a hot country they joke about getting burnt. I was doing sunbeds before so I was already quite tanned so I thought if I stay out in the sun, I’ll be alright.
“It ruined my trip a little bit because Thailand is not somewhere you go every day. I wasted a week but it’s okay.” She explained that she landed in the evening and got up the next morning to swimming straight away – but didn’t put cream on as the sun didn’t feel that strong.
Emilia said: “I woke up the next morning and went straight out the door, I didn’t even think about putting sun cream on. I was in the ocean the whole time, just swimming, I didn’t feel hot at all. As soon as I got out, my lips swelled up, it looked like I had lip filler.
“My face was red but I thought it was just a cute little burn. Next thing I know I’m waking up and my face feels so painful, I can’t even move it. My eyes were swollen, everything was swollen. I thought this was just a very bad sunburn and didn’t think anything of it so I just stayed in bed the whole day.
“After that, it started to get really bad. My face swelled up even more and these bumps started appearing on my face, I was just crying the whole time. Two to three days after is when the blisters started forming and that was so painful. Everyone told me to put aloe vera on them and it’d be fine, but it was not fine.
“It felt hard and achy to move my face and it was a razor sharp pain, like a stabbing pain on my face. When the blisters came that was the worst bit, it felt like someone was just stabbing me in the face. On my nose, cheeks and forehead. Blisters were bigger on my nose and my forehead.
“I went to the doctor’s they gave me an injection to stop the swelling on my face and take it down. They gave me a cream and the blisters went within the next day but my face started peeling. After the cream, it was still an achy, stabby pain, I was crying in pain.”
Emilia, who is still in Thailand for the competition, said she is now ‘traumatised’ and is looking out for the rest of her trip, wearing longer clothes and layers of sun cream. The law student now aims to raise awareness about the dangers of the sun in foreign countries, as she says people think it is a ‘joke’ to get burnt.
Emilia said: “You see lots of Thai people wearing jumpers, that’s clearly them hiding from the sun because of how extreme it is. I would really recommend putting on layers of sun cream, it doesn’t matter if you feel cold, the rays can still get to you. I would really recommend wearing a t- shirt, long clothes and a cap.”