I'm a fruit lover.
My husband hates fruit.
It's summer in Vietnam, so it's fruit lover's paradise.
Immediately, I had my eye on the big, juicy mango in the bowl.
I paused for a moment to plan my attack.
They gave a knife with the bowl....but no plates or silverware.
So I did as any logical, fruit-obsessed person would do,
and I proceeded to devour the mango, island-style.
If you're not familiar with island-style,
it looks a little something like this.
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| {via} |
Then you just put your face up to it, and lap up every last, juicy morsel.
The next day, we were out exploring the city all day, and when we came back to the hotel,
I was dismayed to find that the hotel staff had not replaced the mango in my fruit bowl.
I grumbled about it to my husband, but decided to let it pass.
That night, my lips were feeling really sunburnt.
Granted, we were out in the ridiculously hot weather all day, and the rest of my body was feeling slightly burnt as well. But no matter how much chapstick I applied, my lips wouldn't stop feeling burnt and achey.
The next morning I woke up, and my mouth opened like the tin man who hasn't gotten any grease.
I went straight to the mirror and noticed a lot of crusting on the left corner of my mouth.
To my horror, I saw some puss and little blister-like sores had developed.
Worried that it was herpes, or some weird infection, I told my husband so we could make sure there wasn't any transference.
All day long I was acutely aware of the sores on my lips.
They hurt, and they felt like they were getting worse.
I could barely open my mouth to insert food.
Immediately upon opening my eyes the next morning, I ran to the mirror to assess my condition.
When I saw yellow, hardened pus, and spreading sores, I wanted to hide my face and cry.
Suddenly, I remembered something my sister told me several months ago.
She had an allergic reaction to eating a mango,
and after talking to her doctor, found out it's a legit condition called mango itch.
As it turns out, the mango is a close relative poison ivy and poison oak.
In fact, the skin of the mango contains the exact same oil, urushiol oil, as the oil found in poison ivy.
So while it's perfectly safe to eat the fruit {which I've been eating for many years}
eating the mango "island style" can cause your face to come into contact with the urushiol oil.
So, to boil it down for you,
I basically rubbed poison ivy all over my lips.
If you've never had poison ivy, A) I envy you, and B) words cannot express the hell that is the bullet you've dodged.
The only silver lining is that it was difficult for strangers to notice, because of the placement on my lips.
The picture below is the only one I have where you can slightly detect a problem. You can see that my bottom lip is a bit swollen, and my smile is slightly lopsided {due to the horrible pain on the left side of my mouth!}
If you want to be gross and take a super close look, you can see some crusties on the left side of my mouth {the right side of the picture.}
The condition continued to get worse for two days after this photo was taken,
but now is close to clearing up. Thank the lords.
So the moral of the story is that I should thank the hotel for not replacing my mango,
and shall henceforth never be a ravenous, crazy person who eats mangos island-style.
And I'll feel much more compassion for people I see with cold sores on their face.
The end.
