Parents Beware When On Holiday
A 7 year old girl has been left with horrific scars after suffering chemical burns from a temporary henna tattoo!
She was on holiday with her family in Egypt when she was treated to the black henna design on her forearm. But shortly arriving home, the seven-year-old complained the pattern was itchy.
The pretty swirls soon erupted in a series of painful blisters, which had to be cut off by medics at a specialist burns unit, leaving the girl with permanent scarring.
Black henna tattoos have become fashionable as a temporary, but realistic looking, form of body art. A chemical called paraphenylenediamine (PPD), is added to henna to make the tattoos darker and increase their lifespan. While PPD is present in many products, such as hair dye, it is usually used in very small doses. The addition of PPD into henna can cause chemical burns and lead to allergic reactions. In extreme cases, black henna tattoos can lead to swelling, blistering and permanent scarring of the skin. Black henna tattoos can also increase sensitivity to PPD, meaning you could have a serious allergic reaction to legal hair dyes.
