
31-01-2009, 21:11
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Newbie
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 2
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Hi. I am a medical doctor with an interest in skin disease, I just signed in here tonight as I booked a holiday in PP this April. I noticed this item on henna tattos.
I have seen 2 horrible 'black henna' (actually PPD) reactions in children, in my practice in Southampton. One was acquired in Greece, another in Turkey. The reaction usually comes up after you come home from your Mediterranean holday so the chance of catching let alone claiming damages from the street trader is close to zero. Very strong steroid creams are necessary to treat it, and it can scar.
I did some research, spoke to some dermatologist colleagues and yes this a common but not widely appreciated problem. PPD in henna is already illegal thoughout the EU, but the law is not adequately enforced. I wrote something about it and published my photos in a specialist UK medical magazine, but the issue is still not widely enough known about. Any publicity can help raise awareness.
PPD is quite legally present in hair dye, and as such is usually OK, but if someone becomes sensitised though a 'black henna' tattoo of the skin, they must NEVER use hair dye for life, or they may get an extreme PPD reaction involving the head and neck which I have read may even be life threatenting. There are some awful pictures on the web.
The henna page (someone already posted the URL) is an excellent source of information.
This mainly goes on in Mediterranean holiday resorts, may I humbly suggest that if everyone who has had a child affected kicked up a fuss, wrote to authorities, travel companies and newspapers-send a photo of the rash at its worst- something might get done. But PPD in 'black henna' tattos is already banned throughouit the EU, the issue is enforcement. It should be simple enough for the local authorities to pick up the people who are harming children in this way, but perhaps they don't know as the rash usually comes up 2 weeks later when they have gone home.
kind regards
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