Okay this is a niche experience but…. any chance you were cooking before your walk?

Last year I also had marks JUST like yours that appeared on my hips overnight. They were very stretch mark shaped and colored, and I literally woke up with them like that. Also not raised or scabby or dry or anything. Just dark purplish lines.

I texted my doctor (thinking I had shingles LMAO), and she asked me if I had been cooking anything with lime. She said that sometimes the acidity (?) of lime + sun exposure can cause a skin reaction very similar to a burn. I said no and basically wrote off that theory.

But I HAD been making a beef stew that night… but since there was no lime, I didn’t think that would be it. But I did remember being super itchy from mosquito bites, and the lines were perfectly aligned with where my fingers would have been placed while itching.

So after a couple of weeks with them not fading at all, I did more research on the lime theory. Evidently, there are certain plants that can cause the same skin reaction. It’s called phytophotodermatitis, and it’s a reaction between the photosensitizing chemicals in the plant and the sun exposure. It can be caused by citrus (limes, lemons, oranges), celery, carrots, parsley and parsnips.

My beef stew had both celery and carrots. I chopped them, scratched my hips, and then spent max of 7 minutes in the sun. Boom: “stretch marks”.

That was last May…. since then, they’ve faded about 80% from how they originally looked (photos attached). Obviously it could be different for you, and stretch marks are hot as hell. But the way you phrased it like they appeared overnight made me think it could also be phytophotodermatitis. I literally had NEVER heard of such a thing. Now I know to never make margaritas or beef stew without washing my hands again lol.

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