A BRITISH entrepreneur has created a device which stops jellyfish stings causing serious harm after his sister was blinded in Mallorca.
Mark Dyer, a 60-year-old investor from London invented the Stingblade in 2018 after his sister was stung by a Portuguese Man o’ War.
Stingblade works like a razor, removing the stinger from the skin and preventing the venom from seeping into the body.
Avid swimmers, divers and lifeguards can wear the simple but ingenious device as a band around their arm, ready for any emergency.
Mark understands all too well the effects of an untreated sting after his very own sister, Tracey, was blinded after a Portuguese Man O’War wrapped its 60ft long tentacles around her.
She was swimming in a Mallorca bay when the ‘tragedy’ occurred.
“The pain she experienced was like sticking your fingers into an electric socket and turning it on,” said Mark.
Photo: Stingblade
“Eventually she got out and the lifeguards plastered her with goo but that pushed the poison in and she lost her eyesight.”
Although she has now regained half her vision, her experience pushed Mark to create a solution.
“I’m a keen diver and swimmer and get stung incessantly, one day I thought I could use a diving knife to get the stinger out and it worked a treat,” he said.
A while later he was swimming in Italy when he was caught in a shoal of jellyfish, suffering 25 brutal stings over 20 minutes.
Once he escaped and got back to his hotel, he grabbed a razor and ran it all over his body to remove the stingers.
That night, he went out to dinner as normal, feeling only a ‘slight itch.’
Mark hails from a family of manufacturers, namely, his father was a key part of Wilkinson’s Sword and invented the bonded edge blade.
It seems only fitting that a razor was the key to Mark’s new product.
Made from recycled plastic in the UK, the Stingblade uses a razor like system to safely and easily remove jellyfish stingers.
Photo: Stingblade
“It should be in every beach bar, every yacht charter, every diving company. I’d love to get the Spanish coast guard to adopt it as protocol. For once the Spanish would love the English,” he told the Olive Press.
“If you get stung it can ruin your entire holiday because you get itchy, inflamed skin and you’ll be in a lot of pain. The Stingblade will stop that”
Now, the Stingblade team are touring boat and yacht shows in Europe and beyond, with interest from the Philippines, South Africa, Brazil and France.
Currently, it is available to buy on Amazon or on their website in both blade and arm band versions.
