Boy scarred for life by "fun" tattoo

YOUNG Oliver Garnier has been scarred for life after an allergic reaction to a henna tattoo on holiday.

The eight-year-old's arm blistered so badly his mum and dad needed to take him to hospital when they got back to England after their holiday on one of the Greek islands in July.

He now has the dolphin-shaped scar of the original tattoo on the top of his arm. Oliver, who goes to Sandhurst School, Worthing, said: "I only wanted it to come home with but now I have got it forever."

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Mum Rachel Amos, of Tarring, has advised other mothers to avoid henna tattoo abroad. Her son's arm began to blister within two hours of the ink drying, even though it was the second one he had done.

Rachel told the Herald: "The first one was fine but it washed off in the pool and Oliver wanted to have it done again to come home with.When we got back to the apartment a couple of hours later, his arm looked really bad: it had blistered and was weeping. The next morning it was even worse. The blistering was really bad and his skin was so red.

"We knew he must have reacted to the ink but I was really worried about his arm becoming infected. Luckily we were travelling back home and we could take him to hospital in this country.I would have been really worried if it had happened any earlier in the holiday and we had to go to a foreign hospital."

On their way home from the airport, Rachel and partner, Marco Garnier, took Oliver straight to casualty at Worthing Hospital, where doctors treated and bandaged his arm.

They told him the scar might fade as he gets older but he should never have another henna tattoo.

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