A mum who is allergic to sunlight says exposure leaves her covered in painful, itchy bumps.
Mum-of-two Lesley Bletsoe, 34, from South Ayrshire, was diagnosed with Polymorphic Light Eruption at the age of 21, after she came back from a trip to Belgium covered in painful blisters and rashes.
Lesley says the condition is so severe she's forced to jump between shadows when she leaves the house - otherwise she's left in agony.
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"I have to shadow jump and wear long sleeved tops and full-length trousers," she said.
"I feel like a vampire because the minute that the sun touches my skin, I'm in pain. I can come out in blisters just from sitting next to the window.
"I'm glutton for punishment so last week I went for a mile long walk to my sister's house in shorts and by the time I got there, I was covered in blisters and really itchy.
"The walk home was excruciating because my legs were so tight. There's no getting away from it. When the weather is nice, I'm either in pain or sweating from being in a full length outfit.
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"Luckily, it doesn't affect my face. Last week I ended up at the GP because one of my friends said it looked like a meningitis rash. I usually really suffer between March and August."
Lesley still goes on holiday because she doesn't want her children to miss out, but takes medication and wears long sleeved clothes.
Around 10 per cent of people in the UK have the condition, which there is no cure for.
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Lesley was diagnosed 13 years ago while volunteering for the army cadets in Belgium and assumed she was just suffering from prickly heat.
She said: "I was on a battlefield tour and suddenly there were rashes all over my arms.
"It looked like a bad case of chickenpox and it was really sore. I went to a pharmacy and they thought it was prickly heat.
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"I wasn't diagnosed until about two years later when it kept coming out in the sun. I'm not sure if it's something to do with my hormones because when I had my son, it went away then when I gave birth to my daughter it came straight back.
"I've put a gazebo up in the garden so I can still spend time outside with the children because I don't want them to miss out."
According to the NHS, polymorphic light eruption is skin rash triggered by exposure to UV. It appears within hours, or up to two to three days after exposure to sunlight.
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You can read more about it here.
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