A woman who fell asleep at the beach and developed severe sun poisoning has documented her symptoms which left her face severely swollen.

Bela Chatwin, 21, from Utah, had swollen up so much that her own sister didn't recognise her.

Sun poisoning is an extreme case of sunburn in which ultraviolet radiation inflames the skin.

The interior design assistant suffered sun poisoning after she fell asleep on the beach without suncream for around five hours.

Chatwin took three weeks to recover aided by steroid-based skin creams.

"Now I know you should be careful no matter what - it could happen to anyone," she said.