Health4 min(s) read
Published 15:36 11 Apr 2026 GMT
A UK woman who is effectively allergic to daylight has opened up about the heartbreaking toll her rare condition has taken on her.
Sonal Keay, a criminal barrister and businesswoman, lives with Chronic Actinic Dermatitis, a type of eczema or dermatitis that is "caused by abnormal skin sensitivity to sunlight," per BAD.
What might feel like a mild sunburn for others can quickly become excruciating pain for her.
"I suffered a really severe and painful reaction, and it just didn't clear up at all," she said on This Morning. "Every single time I was outside, every day, I was in a lot of pain and discomfort. I did learn that covering up seemed to help, but I had no idea what was wrong."
Sonal first noticed something was wrong as a teenager after suffering severe flare-ups during holidays abroad. At the time, she couldn’t understand what was triggering the reactions.
She later realized there was a "correlation with sunny days," but struggled to accept the reality of her condition.
She said she "just couldn't understand even the mere the possibility of being allergic to daylight," describing it as "the source of all life".
At 18, she was finally diagnosed, but the adjustment proved overwhelming. "With that diagnosis, I thought, 'What am I going to do with my life? Is my life over?'" she said. "Whilst I might look 'normal', so to speak, it's not the case, I don't have a normal life."
She said that she now has to take constant precautions if she's stepping outside. "I have to apply suncream as automatically as we would pick up our keys or put on our shoes before we leave the house."
She revealed that even on cloudy days, she can react after being outside for "about a minute," describing the aftermath as "days of suffering" and feeling "so uncomfortable in my own skin."
"It was literally a very dark period of my life. I've just really had to obsessively manage my own skin ever since," she added.
Sonal’s experience reflects the challenges faced by others living with extreme photosensitivity, such as Craig Leppert, who has a rare genetic condition called erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP).
For Leppert, sunlight causes immediate and severe pain. "Take the throbbing, hurting feeling of being cut with a knife and getting burned on a stove, those mixed together is what it feels like after 15 minutes in the sun," he told PEOPLE.
He revealed that growing up, short exposure to the sun left him in agony. "I started screaming bloody murder," he recalled after playing outside as a toddler. "The next day, my hands looked like little boxing gloves."
He was forced to avoid outdoor activities entirely, missing out on school events, vacations, and even simple time in the sun. "My basement became like a second home in the summer," he said. "Our family became night people."
On one occasion, forgetting protective gloves during a trip left him in such discomfort that he ran straight into the shower fully clothed to cool his hands. "I didn't even take off my clothes," he said.
Despite the limitations, Leppert has worked to turn his experience into something positive.
In 2017, he launched Shadow Jumpers, a volunteer-run nonprofit for kids and families living with similar conditions.
"My condition made me aware of how different I was," he said. "But I think it also made me more empathetic. I realized that some people have it even harder. It made me a better person."
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