Woman left 'unrecognizable' after painful sun poisoning

A holidaymaker claims her face became so swollen from sun poisoning that her own sister didn't recognize - after falling asleep on a beach for FIVE HOURS.

Isabela Chatwin saw her face balloon until she looked like 'a giant marshmallow' after deciding not to put on sun cream on holiday with friends in San Diego, California, US.

The 21-year-old assumed she wouldn't need any SPF as it was a cloudy day and she was only planning on taking a short nap on the beach.

But four days later the interior design assistant woke up to discover that her face had swollen so much she couldn't see and her skin had erupted in painful blisters.

When she arrived back to her hometown, Lehi, Utah, US, her three-year-old sister Aero was left confused as she didn't recognize her big sister.

Isabela Chatwin's face became so swollen from sun poisoning that her own sister didn't recognize her. (Reuters)

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Hilarious footage shows the bewildered youngster in the doctor's waiting room asking 'is that Bela?' while mum Kim, 54, reassures her.

Isabela said: "I fell asleep on the beach for five hours. When I woke up my skin looked completely fine for the rest of the day, the next morning it was bright red.

"I thought it was just a sunburn and that's as bad as it was going to get. I woke up the next day and it was puffy and blisters on my cheeks and it was painful.

"On the fourth day, my face was so swollen and the blisters had popped. I could barely opening my eyes, I could barely see.

"I thought it was going to be permanent. I was really scared. It hardly looked human. It was like a giant marshmallow, just completely swollen.

"When I got home, I was wearing a surgical mask to hide it so Aero knew it was me because of my voice.

"I took it off for the first time at the doctors and that's when she saw my face was completely different and she ran to my mum saying 'is that bela?'.

"I teased her and said 'my name was Jessica, nice to meet you'. Then she said I looked like a turtle."

After rushing to see a doctor, she was diagnosed with sun poisoning, prescribed steroid creams and told her to stay out of the sun for three weeks.

Isabela shared the footage on TikTok [in June] five years on since the incident and says she speaking out to warn others how important it is to wear suncream no matter how cloudy the sky is.

Isabela said: "It's funny to look back but it was excruciatingly painful. I usually wear suncream because I have really fair skin.

"It was a cloudy day, it had rained and I didn't realize I was going to sleep that long.

"It doesn't matter what the sky looks like, if you're outside and the sun is up, protect your skin no matter what.

"I'm really cautious now. I wear suncream if I'm out for more than an hour and I don't do tanning beds because I don't want to risk it."

Watch the video above to see the viral Tik Tok video that allowed this woman to share an important message with the world.