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Henna hazard: Chemical causes ornate allergies

Started by FaeGuardian, August 08, 2008, 11:56:47 PM

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FaeGuardian

Henna hazard: Chemical causes ornate allergies
Harsh dye can swell popular tattoos into itchy, blistery swirls and shapes

By Melissa Dahl
Health writer
MSNBC
Fri., Aug. 8, 2008


Debbe Geiger has never been one for tattoos. But when her daughter Kim begged to get a henna tattoo on a family vacation to Cancun a few years ago, she thought it couldn't hurt. After all, it's only temporary, and Kim would have something to show off to her friends back home.

But just two days later, the tattoo of a cute little bug had swelled into an itchy, bubbling blister on Kim's upper right arm.

"I was scared to death," says Geiger, who's 43 and lives with her family in Cary, N.C. "I thought, she's 9 years old and she's going to be scarred for life."

The American Academy of Dermatology recently issued a warning that a chemical found in black henna tattoos can cause a severe allergic reaction, causing the skin to redden, swell and blister — but only where the henna is applied, leaving people with bubbly blisters in shapes like suns, stars and flowers.

As henna body art has become mainstream in the last few years, often peddled at summer carnivals and concerts, dermatologists report increasingly treating patients, especially teen girls and young women, with these often elaborate looking allergic reactions.

"Just because they're temporary, people think they're safe," says Dr. Sharon E. Jacob, a dermatologist at the University of California, San Diego.

Natural henna vs. black henna
While true henna is made from harmless plants, black henna uses a chemical called para-phenylenediamine, or PPD, which makes the tattoo dry quickly and last longer — and in some cases, that's much, much longer.

"These skin allergies themselves are not dangerous," says Dr. Colby Evans, a dermatologist in private practice in Austin, Texas. "But they can cause scarring or darkness to the skin that can be permanent."

Despite the potential for creating a permanent souvenir from that trip to Mexico, the scarring generally will go away on its own within a few weeks. But it's almost always odd-looking. This week, the New England Journal of Medicine published Evans' account of a particularly intense case: A 19-year-old Kuwaiti woman Evans treated after she returned from a wedding, where she had black henna applied to her forearms, hands and fingers. A week later, her swirly, flowery henna was overwritten with a swirly, flowery blister.

Last year, Evans also treated a young man with a similar allergic reaction to henna that took an even more bizarre form: a blister on the back of his neck in the perfect shape of an eagle.

In both cases, Evans prescribed steroid creams to bring the swelling down.

Lifelong allergies to some medications
But Evans and other dermatologists warn that just one bad reaction to black henna can be enough to cause permanent sensitivity to PPD, and that allergy can cross-react with chemical relatives in certain anesthetics and medications for heart disease, hypertension and diabetes.

"The allergy you can develop is lifelong," says Jacob. But she's found that people, especially teens, are generally unimpressed by her warnings of reactions to medication, so she reserves this for the kicker: "It may mean you can never dye your hair again."

While PPD is used in most hair dyes, allergic reactions aren't very common because it isn't applied directly to the skin, and in black henna the concentration of PPD is 10 times higher, Jacob estimates. But a PPD sensitivity could cause an allergic reaction after even the slightest contact with the chemical.

Kim Geiger's blister faded away within a month, and her mom says she hasn't had any allergic reaction to medication since. But Debbe Geiger often wonders how anyone could ever tell the difference between safe, natural henna and black henna.

"This was a little booth set up at the hotel pool, and I didn't think anything of it," she says.

Experts say there are a few easy ways to tell the difference between true henna and black henna. For one, henna is never black — it's red, which darkens to a brownish color on the skin as it dries. Real henna starts to fade away within a few days, so be wary of a henna tattoo artist who boasts of tattoos that will last any longer than that.

But both mom and daughter Geiger aren't taking any more chances; they're staying far away from all things henna. "It looks so harmless," Debbe Geiger says, "but you have to watch these ingredients they're using."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26080350/

DeadBishop

I've heard of the dreaded "black henna" for quite some time.  I try to pass the word whenever I hear people speaking about wanting to get henna done.  I saw this first hand when I was in Mexico and tried to enlighten the fellow Americans who were interested in it.


R/F.com member since 2003

Cateyes

My sister-in-law is a henna artist at a renaissance festival and she said all the renaissance festivals she has been to don't allow black henna because it is "evil and bad".  They only have the all natural plant henna from india that's redish.

raevyncait

Every festival or other event at which I've seen henna available it has always been natural. 
When I was in Cancun for my nephew's wedding at the end of June, my sister was planning to get a henna tattoo, and I told her to be careful and make sure they were using natural henna, not the black kind.
Raevyn
IWG 3450
The ORIGINAL Pipe Wench
Wench @ Large #2
Resident Scottish Gypsy
Royal Aromatherapist

CatAshtrophy

I've gotten many henna tattoos before, always at faire. I had heard about black henna before I even got the first one, and so I always ask to make sure that it isn't black henna. I've always had great experiences with my henna tattoos.

Noble Dreg

So if I read this correctly...getting tat's in a third world, or near third world country is not a good idea?   ;D

Good info, as always, buyer beware, even more important when travel is involved.
"Why a spoon cousin? Why not an axe?"
Because it's dull you twit, it'll hurt more. Now SEW, and keep the stitches small

Elennare

I really don't like articles like this.  They give real henna a bad name more than they actually inform people about potential dangers and how to avoid them.  You have to look half-way down the page, and past several adds and whatnot before they even begin to suggest that "black henna" is different from "natural henna."  It does a lot more to scare people than educate them, and you have to actually read the entire thing (lots of people don't do that) to find a little bit of information about how to tell the difference.

So-called "black henna" is NOT henna!  It's hair dye.  There are several easy ways to tell the difference.  Ask what color the tattoo will be.  If it's black, it's not henna.  Ask how long the paste will need to sit before you remove it.  Any less than half an hour, it's not henna.  Ask how long it will last.  Henna tends to last 2 weeks or less, and usually fades long before that.  You can also ask the artist what is in their paste.  If they can't or won't tell you, skip it.

Here's a link that has a lot more information about this: http://www.hennapage.com/henna/ppd/index.htm
And a link specifically to how to tell the difference:  http://www.hennapage.com/henna/ppd/whoisppd.html
My (infrequently updated) costume blog: http://manufactorumbrandis.wordpress.com/

Pipere

Amen, it makes me discouraged as a henna artist to see incidents like this were people either buckled to carelessness, cheapness, or that ever-present need to make dark tattoos. For god sake's people, spend a little more money on some quality henna before you put hair dye in your mix. *eyeroll*
Margraffin Katya Ghuttzout- Vulgarian overlady
Balquis al-Quasim- Turkish assassin
& the lazy college student Jeni

Lady Mikayla of Phoenicia

I've had 4 very large natural red hennas, 3 done at Renaissance Pleasure Faire of Southern California and 1 done at Carolina Renaissance Festival.  I have sensitive skin and enjoyed them all till they naturally faded away about a week later.   8)
"Embrace those who love you and rid yourself of those who bring you down."

Pipere

Oh there are some pretty good brews that can make them last easily two weeks and yeild a rich stain. It just takes a little patience and the desidre to shell out a few extra bucks for a nice crop of henna.

http://photos-494.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v252/13/25/640932494/n640932494_894457_6393.jpg

The final stain was even darker, resulting in almost a mulberry color in spots.
Margraffin Katya Ghuttzout- Vulgarian overlady
Balquis al-Quasim- Turkish assassin
& the lazy college student Jeni