She loses her sight with her hair dye: Woman nearly goes blind after using hair product

La PPD est une amine aromatique contenue dans certaines colorations pour cheveux, interdite en Europe dans certaines cosmétiques. MAXPPP – Marc OLLIVIER

A woman from Lyon nearly went blind because of hair dye and this case is not isolated.
 

On September 12, the journal JAMA Ophthalmology published an article reporting cases of kidney disease linked to the use of aromatic amines contained in hair dyes. Vision loss remains rare, however three similar cases have been reported in France in 2022.

A woman nearly went blind

Among those reported in the article, that of a 61-year-old woman from Lyon. Treated at the Edouard-Herriot hospital and the private hospital of East Lyon due to increasingly blurred vision, the latter learned from ophthalmologists that she suffered from multiple retinal detachments as well as thickening of the neurosensory retina.

Following numerous examinations, doctors established a direct link between the onset of symptoms and the hair dye that the patient had used a few days earlier. This contained aromatic amines, including paraphenylenediamine (PPD).

A product banned in Europe

PPD is used in dark hair dyes to make coloring agents penetrate the hair fiber more quickly and thus ensure longer hold.

This product has been banned in Europe since 2005 in cosmetics intended to be in direct contact with the skin because it is highly allergenic and can cause eczema. It is authorized in hair dyes at a concentration not to exceed 6%. 

Following partial blindness, the patient finally regained normal vision after one month, without recurrence and by changing dyeing products.