Sunscreen is supposed to protect us from getting burned, but in the case of one man in Massachusetts, it did exactly the opposite.

Brett Sigworth says he was grilling up a meal on a charcoal barbecue last month when he remembered he was not wearing sunscreen. He sprayed on an aerosol form of Banana Boat sunscreen to his chest and arms and rubbed it in for a few seconds before walking back over to his grill.

When he reached his arm into his grill, flames shot up his arm and spread up his chest and neck.

"I went into complete panic mode and screamed. I've never experienced pain like that in my life," he told the local CBS News affiliate.

Family members who were with him at the time quickly helped suffocate the flames and got him to a hospital.

Sigworth suffered second degree burns on his chest, ear and back – everywhere that he had applied the sunblock.

Dan Dillard, the CEO of the Burn Prevention Network, says it sounds like the sunscreen hadn't fully absorbed into Sigworth's skin and that propellants in the spray may have still been in the air.

"As he approached the flame, the charcoal simply caught the vapour trail and it followed the vapour trail to his body," Dillard told ABC News.

Now, Sigworth is wondering why it's not more clearly stated on the sunscreen's label that the product can be flammable, even after it's on the skin.

"I think if people were told this is flammable for two minutes on your skin, people wouldn't use it," he says.

The labels on the sunscreen do read: "Flammable. Do not use near heat, flame, or while burning." But Sigworth says it doesn't mention that the potential risk continues for a period of time after being applied to skin.

Banana Boat released a statement about Sigworth's injury, saying it was sorry to hear about his experience, but that it was rare.

"We are unaware of any prior incidents similar to what Brett has described, but because nothing is more important to us than the safety of our consumers, we are taking this matter very seriously," the company told Boston TV station WBZ-TV.

As for Sigworth, he says he does not plan to sue but is sharing the photos with others because he wants to make sure no one else gets burned as they use sunscreen.

"I had no idea and it was so scary and i just wouldn't want to see it happen to anybody else."