A 20-YEAR-OLD woman has told of how she almost died hours after applying a spray tan to someone else.
Keleigh Nicholl from Ballycraigy estate in Antrim said she lost consciousness and was minutes from death.
She said doctors believe she suffered a severe reaction to ingredients in the canned product by popular cosmetics brand Barry M, bought from a high street store.
Ms Nicholl said she applied the tan to her mother on July 9, ahead of her cousin's wedding.
She said that shortly afterwards her mother had trouble breathing. Ms Nicholl said she too felt unwell and that after returning to her own home in the Woodlawn area later she collapsed.
"I was putting the tan on my mum's legs for my cousin's wed-ding," she said.
"I wasn't even putting it on myself and we had the room ventilated when we were doing it.
"That evening, within an hour and a half of putting the tan on my mum, I collapsed onto the sofa and stopped breathing."
Ms Nicholl said her brother found her lying unconscious and called an ambulance, which took her to hospital.
"The doctors said if he had been another 10 minutes I wouldn't be here today," she said.
Ms Nicholl, who is asthmatic, remained in hospital for two days.
She was discharged but was admitted again days later.
"I have never been admitted to hospital before because of my asthma," she said.
"I had to go back into hospital again on the Monday as I took bad again.
"Mum was also nebulised after she felt unwell after the spray tan."
Ms Nicholl now takes steroid tablets and an anti-histamine tablet every day, along with extra use of her inhaler.
She has warned others, especially young girls, about the use of spray tans.
"I would absolutely not use spray tans again, not after what I went through," she said.
"It's terrifying what could have happened and I wouldn't want that to happen to anyone else."
No-one from Barry M was available for comment last night.
' ? ? ADVERSE REACTION: Keleigh Nicholl PICTURE:: Hugh Russell