Woman Suffers Chronic Liver Damage After Dyeing Hair Every Month for 10 Years

Dyeing our hair is quite the norm for many of us, either because we want to cover up some grey hairs or just to change our look every once in a while. However, we should take care not to overdo it so that we can allow our hair and body some time to recuperate.

A woman, surnamed Chen in Harbin, China was discovered to be suffering from advanced cirrhosis due to dyeing her hair. Wait, what? A report on Sina said that the illness was caused by Chen consistently dyeing her hair over the course of 10 years and as a result, her liver was damaged.

Apparently, Chen had discovered that she had grey hairs about 10 years ago and decided to cover them up by dyeing her hair. Her hair grew fast and she said that in less than a month, it would be noticeable again, especially on the side of her head. It made her look old and tired, so she had a monthly appointment at the hair salon to touch up her gray hairs. Beauty is pain!

Chen went to the hairdresser every month to dye her hair over the course of 10 years but two months ago, she began to experience health problems. One night when she went up to bed, she found that she was breathless and tired but thought nothing of it.

However, her husband was shocked to see that Chen’s skin had turned yellow and when she opened her eyes, the whites of her eyes were also yellowish. She was rushed to the hospital where the doctors ran a series of tests on her and found out that she had more than 10 times the level of bilirubin in her body. Bilirubin is usually noticeable in cases like jaundice, anemia and liver disease and is an orange-yellow pigment that occurs normally when part of your red blood cells break down.

The doctor tried to find the cause of cirrhosis as Chen was already in the advanced stage of liver damage but found that she did not take any drugs that would have caused it. After investigating, they determined that it was her consistent hair dyeing that caused chemical damage to the liver. Uh oh!

Chen had to undergo more than 20 days of treatment in the hospital and gradually got better but her liver was irreversibly damaged. The doctor said that the chemicals in most hair dyes are absorbed by the skin and metabolised by the liver. 

As Chen frequently dyed her hair, her liver was working overtime to break down the chemicals. The doctor suggests using plant hair dyes and said that the intervals between hair dyeing should be about six months.

Guess staying natural is our best option!

 

Also read: Woman Forced to Go Bald After Dyeing Hair 4 Times in Salon