Jelly fish stings - do the marks go away?

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joaozinho

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Location
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Hello,

I was diving in San Andres last week and on exiting the water after a night dive 4 of the 5 in our group were stung by jelly fish. Unfortunately I got stung worse than everyone else, on my foot and on various parts of my lower leg. I experienced the pain moving up through my body and compressing my chest and spent a very uncomfortable night with fever and the burning sensation in my leg.

After the sting I put vinegar on my leg and have been taking antihistamines and putting hydrocortisone cream on the sting area. 7 days have passed and I still have red marks on my leg and foot with little black points. The cream has reduced the inflamation and the stinging sensation has 95% gone.

Has anyone else been stung and how long did it take for the marks to go away? I don't know what kind of jelly fish it was, something medium sized, everyone on the island said they were not serious.

Are lycra rash guards and body skins thick enough on their own to protect you from jelly fish? I don't dive anywhere cold enough to really need a 3mm wetsuit but I'll get one if that's what it takes to stop stings.

Thanks,

Maria
 
I was stung by a Portuguese man of war. The scars faded after a few months and were gone after 6-9 months.

It felt like getting cracked with a bull whip and burned for a few days. I'm not sure how affective the lycra is against jellies...

The scars were great for telling tales to my dive buddies when I got home :)
 
My scars were gone in a couple of weeks. I was using panty hose when I got stung.

The lyrca guard may or may not guarantee protection depending on the type of jellyfish and how well the jellyfish got you wrapped up. My friend was wearing one and she got stung. Her scars are not visible anymore.

I wish my scars were something to show off about - I got stung in the armpit and nipple. It was more of a joke than anything else! It still hurts just thinking of the lemon juice I put afterwards...


btw, welcome to scubaboard Maria!
 
2 years later I still have a few tiny zit looking items on my chin. Never had zits on my chin prior to the sting.
 
I have sea nettle scars all over my abdomen from seven years ago. The ones on my hands went away after about a year. They were rather digusting and embarassing at first but now they aren't too bad, just blemishes about 1.5" long and maybe 1" across. I could get them fixed with plastic surgery but I'm not THAT bothered by them. Keep your scars out of the sun while they are healing. Make sure you don't get an infection. One of my scars is actually a raised knot of tissue that isn't terribly attractive, I think that one was a tad infected.
 
the marks should go away in a few days, don't scratch them. I always advise people to wear a 3mm full suit regardless of temp, just for exposure protection from abrasions and things like jellyfish. There are millions of microbes in the water with you, when you cut yourself you are exposing yourself to all sorts of things that are in the water, the inconvenience of putting on a suit is more than worth it to put a barrier between you and most of the things in the water, plus, when you pee it keeps you warm :)
 
I've been stung on two occasions by man 'o war. In both cases the stings went away by the end of three weeks. Other folks have lifelong scars. It partially depends on the density of the stinging cells, and how deep they penetrated. Tentacles that wrap around you tend to leave much nastier welts than tentacles that incidentally brush you.
 
I had marks that lasted YEARS, the actually embedded deeply enough to leave little trenches in my feet and lower legs.

Next time, put your feet in fairly hot water to ease the pain, it helps a ton.

The scars should eventually go away, but as others have said, the severity of them really matters and it could take years.
 
Well, growing up on the water in FL, I've been stung more times than I can remember, and I don't have a scar from any one of them, and I usually scar like crazy.
 
Hi everyone. Thanks for all the replies so far. Hopefully I'll just be a 3 week case and not 7 years. Looks like I'll buy a wetsuit.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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