Father speaks out after hogweed gives his daughter severe burns

The father of a 10-year-old girl who was left with huge blisters and third degree burns after she touched a toxic plant has warned of its dangers.

Lauren Fuller was on a fishing trip with her dad Russell on June 28 when she picked a piece of giant hogweed plant to add to a den she was building near Loch Lomond.

Within 24 hours Lauren had bright red burns on her hands and cheeks but when her parents took her to hospital they were told it was just sunburn.

Unsatisfied with the diagnosis, Mr Fuller and his wife Charlotte turned to Google to research their daughter’s symptoms and realised she was a victim of giant hogweed.

Lauren was first taken to Wishaw General Hospital, near her home in Shotts, Lanarkshire, before being transferred to South Glasgow University Hospital.

Two weeks on she is still taking painkillers and relies on a heavy duty cream to stop her blisters and burns from getting any worse.

Mr Fuller said: “What happened to Lauren was terrifying and I would honestly really hate for any other parent to go through what Charlotte and I have gone through.”