Sammanfattning
Background. Contact with jellyfish can cause skin irritation and manifestations. We wanted to investigate the prophylactic effect of a sunscreen cream containing an inhibitor against jellyfish stings.
Material and method. We recruited 38 persons who were randomised such that each received two of three possible treatments, one on each forearm: prophylactic treatment with sunscreen cream containing jellyfish sting inhibitor, conventional sunscreen, or no cream. Their underarms were exposed to wet jellyfish tentacles in a watch glass. The following were recorded: time before pain, skin changes after four minutes, and pain intensity after 10 minutes, registered on a VAS scale.
Results. Thirteen of 25 subjects who had the sunscreen with jellyfish sting inhibitor did not register any pain after 4 minutes’ exposure, compared with two of 25 and two of 26 who had received prophylaxis with conventional sunscreen lotion (p = 0.32) and no prophylaxis (p < 0.001), respectively. On average, subjects who had received prophylaxis with sunscreen containing jellyfish sting inhibitor recorded a lower VAS score for pain/discomfort after 10 minutes. The difference was 10.6 mm (95 % CI 3.1-17.9) compared with conventional sunscreen and 14.2 mm (95 % CI 6.9-21.5) compared with no prophylaxis. A smaller number of subjects were found to have underarms with inflamed skin when cream containing jellyfish sting inhibitor was used (6 of 25) than when conventional sunscreen was used (11 of 25) or no prophylaxis (12 of 26). There was no statistically significant difference between conventional sunscreen and no prophylaxis for any of the three outcome measurements.
Interpretation. Prophylactic treatment with jellyfish sting inhibitor reduces the risk of subjects developing symptoms after exposure to jellyfish tentacles.