Have you seen the Corona TV ad in which a woman, irritated that her beach companion has been staring at a bikini-clad blonde, squirts him with the lime sitting atop his beer?
Well, according to a dermatology journal out today, he may have been in for worse than a surprise: a nasty skin reaction that one doctor is calling "Mexican beer dermatitis."
Dr. Scott Flugman, of Huntington Hospital in New York, reports in the Archives of Dermatology that a substance in lime juice, if left on the skin in the sun, can cause the skin to become discolored, as if stung by jellyfish or poison ivy. And the marks can last for months.
Here's how it happens: Mexican beers, particularly Corona, are typically served with a lime slice wedged into the top of the bottle. The drinker then shoves the lime into the bottle and holds his or her thumb over the bottle's mouth while turning the bottle over to mix in the juice.
If the drinker isn't careful, however, the beer's carbonation can spray lime juice and beer all over his or her skin -- "especially in a patient who is shirtless by a beach or pool," the journal notes.
The ensuing reaction -- most commonly seen in people such as bartenders who work outdoors with limes -- owes to a substance called psoralen, Flugman told Reuters Health.
