Girls suffer second-degree burns from fruit Five girls ended up in hospital for two weeks after suffering agonsing burns caused by limes. Source: Leader IT was supposed to be a normal play day for five friends splashing in a pool in the back yard. It ended with the group of girls in horrific pain and eventually intensive care in hospital after they all suffered second-degree burns. The five had spent the day in the pool, splashing around and having fun, The Hanford Sentinel reports. What at first seemed to be overexposure to the sun blossomed into softball-sized blisters and second-degree burns. Stephanie Ellwanger's girls, Jewels, 12, and Jazmyn, 9, wound up spending several days in an intensive care unit, hooked up to morphine to manage the pain. They stayed in hospital two weeks. Now they're not allowed out int he sun for at least six months. If at all. But what caused the Ellwanger girls and their three friends - Reyghan, Candy and Bailey - to end up with massive blisters and peeling skin was a mystery. Doctors were stumped. They at first thought they'd been the victims of chemical burns, until Ms Ellwanger said that was in no way possible. Ms Ellwanger, of Hanford, California, later remembered that the girls played with limes from a neighbour's tree, squeezing the fruits and splashing in the juice. After a google search and some time trying to convince dubious medical staff, the girls were diagnosed with phytophotodermatitis, described as "a chemical reaction [to the lime juice] that makes bare skin hypersensitive to ultraviolet light." It's caused by contact with photosensitizing compounds which occur naturally in some fruits and vegetables - like limes. "I feel guilty," Ellwanger told the Sentinel. Who would've known these innocent little fruits could do so much damage. Read the full report at The Hanford Sentinel