Mum scarred by horrific allergic reaction to hair dye – which was mistaken for herpes
Jessica developed pus filled blisters in her hairline and on her head and neck after using 'cheap black hair dye'
A MUM was left swollen, scabby and scared after a horrific allergic reaction to hair dye – which doctors thought was herpes.
Jessica Roy, 26, developed pus filled blisters in her hairline and on her head and neck after using “cheap black hair dye”.
Her first reaction happened in June last year and left her covered in a blistering rash.
Five months later Jessica, from Ontario in Canada, suffered a second reaction after using another dye which left her struggling to breathe and feeling like her “head was on fire”.
Her reaction was so severe that simply washing her hair causes another flare-up that can leave her eyes swollen shut.
Each time she has a reaction Jessica needs urgent medical help.
The student is now warning others to do a patch test before dying their hair.
“I am still suffering with the rash and blisters, they are not as bad as before but every time I wash my hair it flares up,” she said.
“I have scars all over my neck, eyes and anywhere it touched while washing my hair.
“I have become severely depressed from the amount of discomfort I am still in and embarrassed of how I look now.
“Hair dye reactions are no joke and needs a lot more awareness, not one doctor even knew what it was.
“I was told to go to a doctor who prescribed a second type of antibiotics and even told me it was most likely not the hair dye but herpes.”
After being told she likely had herpes Jessica sought a second opinion.
Jessica had originally dismissed her first reaction thinking it was just because the product she used was cheap.
But in October she used a salon brand and suffered a worse reaction.
“Within five minutes of having the dye on my hair my head was on fire, I immediately washed it off a couple of times,” she recalled.
“About one to two hours went by and my scalp was still burning and then itchy.
“I was breaking out in a rash and blisters all over my head, neck and my face too and my lymph nodes on both sides of my neck became inflamed and I had difficulty breathing.
“A few days went by and the blisters began to break, bleed and fill-up with yellow scabs, everything was getting so much worse, so I went to the hospital.”
Since then Jessica has barely been able to wash her hair because of the pain it causes.
Not only have the reaction affected her physically, but they have knocked her confidence too.
“I have lost tonnes of hair around my face along with the hair getting super thin,” she said.
“I suffer from depression and anxiety and the reaction actually made it worst to the point the doctor had to put me on medication and increase the dose.”
Gina Taro, an allergy specialist said up to 75 per cent of women in the US use hair dye and from them 6.5 per cent will suffer a reaction to one of the chemicals used in the dye.
“Reactions can present as anything from a red area to a very angry rash with blistering to open wounds that ooze,” she said.
“To throat swelling, eyes crusting shut and the risk of a compromised airway that can lead to death.”
Gina believes the hair dye reactions are caused by “cheap chemicals” used in many of the products.
Recurrent exposure worsens the reactions and, in Jessica’s case, she believes the chemicals from her first reaction caused long-term problems
“It’s called a cumulative allergy, where the chemicals are in your system and your resistance is nil,” she added.
“The allergic reaction will get worse every time until going into anaphylactic shock and death.
“Every time the hair is wet the chemicals are active, when it’s dry they are not.
“It’s just the way chemical bonding for the hair works, when the hair is wet the chemical drips in microscopic amounts onto the skin and a reaction occurs as a result.”
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