A new do left a woman temporarily blind due to a severe reaction to a beauty product frequently used in the UK.
The unnamed 61-year-old French women was using an over-the-counter hair dye when she started to experience blurry vision a few days later.
Medics investigating the case tested her eyes using equipment similar to that used in opticians and found she had serious signs of retinopathy.
Retinopathy is the medical term for damage to the blood vessels that feed the light sensitive tissue at the back of the eye we use to see.
Reporting the case in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology, the medics pinned the cause to the woman’s use of hair dye containing paraphenylenediamine.
The unnamed 61-year-old French women was using an over-the-counter hair dye when she started to experience blurry vision a few days later. Stock image
Paraphenylenediamine, which belongs to a class of chemicals called aromatic amines, have been linked to health problems before.
The NHS lists paraphenylenediamine as a common ingredient in many hair dyes, and states it is the leading cause of allergic reactions to these products, with the chemical found in particularly high amounts in darker shades.
Medics in the most recent case suspected the women’s vision problems were related to exposure to paraphenylenediamine based on the timing of her symptoms shortly after using the product.
However, they did not report that the product had entered the eyes, suggesting that the chemical entered the bloodstream in other ways.
It would be four months until the woman’s vision returned to normal.
Medics added that the patient, having switched to a paraphenylenediamine-free hair dye, did not suffer any more problems for four years of follow-up.
However, they noted she did have signs of damage to her eyes more commonly associated with old age.
Concluding their report, the medics said cases of hair dye triggered retinopathy remained incredibly rare.
They theorised the paraphenylenediamine may be entering the blood stream through tiny cuts on a person’s scalp and from there disrupting the normal chemical reactions that keep cells in the eye healthy.
However, they noted this was theoretical and no such cuts on the scalp had been noted in either their or other reported cases of the phenomenon.
They said despite its rarity medics needed to keep hair dye linked retinopathy in mind when treating patients to advise them to avoid exposure and limit the potential damage to their eyes.
The NHS emphasises that products containing paraphenylenediamine are safe to use given that the levels of it allowed in hair dyes is strictly controlled.
It added that most paraphenylenediamine reaction are caused by people not following hair dye instructions and using too much accidentally.
The medics didn’t report on if the woman in their case had used the product correctly.
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