Sunburn is not the only side effect of good weather. Those who rest in the country or in the village with their grandfather risk getting burns from hogweed, those who travel to warm seas from jellyfish.
hogweed
Do not laugh: hogweed is the intrigues of the State Department and American sabotage. Seriously. In our country, it did not grow at all until the 1940s. After the war, when the collective farms had to be restored, and there was nothing to feed the cattle, someone reported to Stalin that American farmers feed cows with hogweed: the plant is juicy, unpretentious, multiplies quickly and also looks pretty. Well, the leader ordered to buy and sow. At first, everything went well, and then the collective farmers began to notice that the cows that graze in the cow parsnip had blisters on the udder, milk yield was less and life was shorter … Nevertheless, this weed was used on the collective farm for a long time, while Khrushchev from the same America did not bring corn.
They stopped cultivating cow parsnip, but he himself grew without asking, wherever he fell. And among the people, legends about its poisonous nature either arose or were refuted. Some, after communicating with this giant plant, had terrible burns that did not go away for several months, while others did without consequences. But here’s the thing: on the outside, the cow parsnip is completely harmless. You can touch the stems, leaves and flowers – and nothing will happen to you for it. The juice of the stems is poisonous. But its harmfulness does not lie in the fact that it corrodes the skin. The juice is not caustic – therefore, you may not even notice it and not wash it off right away. But it infinitely increases photosensitivity – sensitivity to light rays. That is, if you, having rolled up your sleeves, chopped hogweed, the juice got on your shoulder or forearm, and then you lowered your sleeves, then most likely nothing will happen. But if the sleeves were short, and a drop of juice fell under the sunbeam, then …
Nothing will disturb you for about five days. And then dark spots will appear on the skin – like from sunburn. After another couple of days, blisters with liquid inside form in their place (as with a 2nd degree burn). They won’t hurt either until they burst. And they will burst sooner or later – and this is where the terrible begins. In a good scenario (if an infection does not get into the wound), the skin will get wet for five days, covered with skin from the bubble, then it will begin to dry out, then a crust will form … And all this is a rather painful process. It will take three weeks to heal. But a dark spot at the site of the burn may remain for a couple of years. Therefore, it is better to avoid contact with hogweed juice altogether. If you fight him, then cut yourself in closed clothes and goggles. And after the fight, be sure to wash yourself completely.
- If blisters do appear, try to keep them intact for as long as possible – five to seven days. Then they will still burst, but the skin under them will already begin to form.
- If the pain interferes with sleep, take painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs.
- After the bubble bursts, try to keep its “lid” (the skin under which fluid has accumulated) as the main protection for the wound. It’s better to do without patches.
- Creams and ointments based on dexpanthenol can be used to reduce pain and soften the resulting scabs.
