Margarita dermatitis

That’s the jokey name for a skin condition I’d never heard of. The real name is phytophotodermatitis. It’s a skin reaction you get if you spill lime juice—or grapefruit, lemon, celery, carrots, parsnip or parsley juice—on yourself, and then go out into the sun. These juices contain chemicals called furocoumarins that cause a skin reaction when exposed to sunlight. The reaction takes about 24 hours to show up. What you get is a rash and/or blisters.

I Googled images of this condition and some are rather horrific—huge blisters. Here’s one image—one of the milder-looking photos.

Apparently this condition is often seen in beachgoers who have been squeezing lime juice into their Coronas and have gotten a little sloppy with the squeezing. In the photo above, I can picture the guy holding his Corona over his leg and attempting to squeeze the lime juice into the bottle—perhaps while sitting in a boat. By the way, this condition often flummoxes dermatologists.

I had considered squirting some lime juice onto my skin then going out into the sun to see what would happen. But apparently this condition can be quite painful and can last a couple of months! Forget it.

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