27 Dec 2012

An unwanted souvenir

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Nails, hair & skin

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Recently my family and I had a lovely holiday on the warm, friendly island of Bali. It was great; hot and sunny, with lots of swimming, eating and laughing- and one innocuous henna tattoo for my four year old. Or so we thought.

Now some of your more seasoned travellers may already be shaking their heads in disbelief at my naïveté, and on reflection I can’t believe we let him get one either. Of course, henna is not black. Of course, it should not be put onto the fragile sensitive skin of a small boy, particularly in the shape of a large, fire-breathing dragon.

So, soon after we had returned from tropical paradise, my son was scratching and ripping at his arm where the tattoo was painted, like the dragon itself was breathing fire onto his skin. It didn’t take long for large, angry, red welts and blisters to appear, with bleeding sores from the way he was scratching it uncontrollably.

I have since learned that henna can be adulterated with certain chemicals when used in temporary tattoos. This is done to make the henna black, to help it to dry faster and to make the tattoo last longer. The dodgiest of these adulterants is para-phenylenediamine, also known as PPD. It is a synthetic coal tar dye and is known to cause severe reactions in some people. PPD can be an ingredient in permanent hair dye, where it is recognized as a cause of allergic contact dermatitis.

So, off to the doctor we went, for a diagnosis of type IV hypersensitivity reaction and appropriate treatment. Thank goodness we did, as it took over 3 weeks of treatment for the skin to return somewhat to normal, although the faint outline of that blasted dragon can still be seen. Not everyone who experiences this reaction is so lucky, as the intense inflammation caused by a PPD reaction can lead to scarring, keloid formation and permanent post-inflammatory pigment changes, including hypopigmentary changes in children.

A pretty rough souvenir, by anyone’s standards.

References available on request

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