My forearms are covered in horrible red blisters, like lots of burn
wounds, they are a real mess. Three days ago I ran the lawnmower over
some weeds / flowers which where poking through a fence onto the edge of
the lawn. It only knocked over some of the taller weeds so I pulled them
up by hand afterwards wearing leather gloves but bare arms. I thought
nothing of this and continued working in the garden for several hours.
However by the evening my arms were itching and had red marks. By the
following day they were covered in red swollen blisters. Some long
blisters too several inches long, all full of fluid. They are still a
mess and red and itching three days later.

After looking up the symptoms and degree of skin blistering on the web
it is possible the weed could have been a giant hogweed but I don't
remember mowing one of those down. It is likely that running the mower
over the weeds/flowers splattered sap all over them and when I pulling
up the flattened stragglers and carried them in my arms to the compost
bin I probably got my arms coated in sap.

I wish I knew exactly what type of weed did the damage. I know that
amongst the weeds there was one of those big plants that look like a
thistle but have yellow flowers, there were also lots of forget-me-nots
and some morning glory. I'm not aware of any of those having dangerous sap?

--
David in Normandy.
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