Straightening Woes: Hair Treatment Causes Woman to Have Bent Kidneys!
Forget split ends—the new beauty horror is a nightmare! A 26-year-old’s desire for silky smooth hair turned dangerous, resulting in serious damage to her health. This is all because of the hair straightening procedures she received! This may sound like moms who are against high-fashion cosmetics and products, but these straightening products are something everyone needs to be mindful of because medical research and this case have proven them to be harmful to anyone’s health.
A 26-year-old woman with no history of health issues had kidney damage after having her hair straightened at a hair salon. According to the story reported by the healthcare researchers in the journal The New England Journal of Medicine, a woman who went to a salon three times to have her hair straightened in June 2020, April 2021, and July 2022, a completely healthy young woman with no prior history of medical issues, encountered a number of unpleasantries after each hair salon visit.
The woman in this specific study had no prior health problems when she got medical assistance. She went to the doctor reporting that she was vomiting, had high fevers, diarrhea, and back pain.
Doctors did a computed tomography (CT) scan to get a closer look, but the results revealed no abnormalities or evidence of infection, despite the presence of blood in her urine, according to the case report.
Finding the Reason for the Woman’s discomfort
After the third cycle of follicular agony, she had had enough when she began to develop head ulcers and had blood in her urine despite having no problems in her urinary system, kidneys, bladder, uterus, or urethra.
This caught doctors’ attention, and when they examined the reason for her pain in a lab experiment, they found that the hiding culprit was the hair straightening product itself!
According to some ideas, the reason was a high concentration of a harmful acid (Glyoxylic acid) that went into the woman’s system through her scalp. Once inside, this corrosive intruder wreaked devastation on her kidneys, causing damage and a variety of adverse side effects.
In order to better comprehend the reaction of Glyoxylic acid to kidney injury, researchers performed a test on mice by applying the straightening solution on a group of mice and comparing them to a control group treated with petroleum jelly.
The results were… well, let’s just say that the product given to the mice created crystals in their urine that were strikingly identical to those discovered in people who was consuming ethylene glycol, a rather nasty chemical found in many everyday household items such as antifreeze. The mice who received the hair treatment product had elevated creatinine levels in their blood, which were similar to those found in the woman.
However, every time the woman in this situation went to a salon to have her hair straightened, her injured kidney quickly recovered, and the impact of glyoxylic acid in the hair treatment solution appeared to be temporary on her.
Safer Alternatives
Most Hair treatment remedies contain Glyoxylic acid, which is a safer option to formaldehyde. However, another study on 26 people with kidney damage from Israel discovered that the majority of the participants had used various products containing Glycolic acid derivatives, a chemical found in many beauty products that is broken down into Glyoxylic acid by the liver.
Discontinued From the Market
“In regards to the possibility of renal damage of external Glyoxylic acid, products containing this substance should be avoided and, we suggest that it be discontinued from the market.”
The results prompted various class-action lawsuits against firms who produce and market the cosmetics, including L’Oreal and Revlon.
“Glyoxylic acid was licensed and released recently in products for straightening hair as a supposedly safer option to products containing formaldehyde,” according to the experts.
However, even these carry hazards. A 41-year-old lady became extremely weak and sick after undergoing a formaldehyde-free chemical hair treatment, according to a 2022 case report released in the medical journal Case Reports in Nephrology and Dialysis treatments.
Salon staff and consumers may develop respiratory problems as a result of exposure to airborne toxins like formaldehyde or toluene contained in some salon products. Chronic exposure to these pollutants may raise the risk of respiratory issues over time.
In rare situations, bacterial or fungal infections acquired at a hair salon might progress to systemic infections that have an impact on kidney health. However, this is uncommon and usually requires certain circumstances, such as filthy salon conditions or weakened immune function.
Written By Kyla Hughes
Sources
MIAMI HERALD – 26-year-old’s head burns during treatment at salon. Then doctors find damaged kidneys
Fox News – Woman left with kidney damage after visiting hair salon
