Woman nearly blinded by home hair dye

The 16-year-old suffered horror burns from an allergic reaction.

A 16-year-old girl was nearly blinded and left looking like a ‘frog’ after suffering an allergic reaction to hair dye.

Tylah Durie from Victoria, Australia went through hell after attempting to tint her eyebrows and eyelashes at home without doing a patch test first.

She was left with her eyes swollen shut, bulging to the size of balloons, chemical burns on her eyeballs and her eyelashes falling out.

Her face developed welts she claimed she looked like a ‘frog’ and she was barely able open her eyes that wept puss 24-7.

Within hours of applying 1000 Hour’s Eyelash and Brow Dye Kit the teenager was rushed to hospital and warned that if she touches hair dye again in it could ‘kill her’.

“I woke up almost blind because of the reaction, my eyes had blown up like huge balloons, I was crying and screaming,” she said. 

“My mum said I looked like a big frog because my eyebrows had folded over and my eyes were horribly swollen.”

Unknown to her Tylah, she had a deadly allergy to one of the chemicals in the dye called Paraphenylenediamine (PPD), which is also found in henna tattoos.

 

Doctors told the teenager that she could have left herself with permanent blindness from the severe allergic reaction and warned her against ever using it again.

“I didn’t realise I was allergic to PPD, I did it to myself, I made a mistake and I’m now trying to protect others,” Tylah said.

“I went through inexplicable pain just by tinting my eyelashes and eyebrows, I’m never using dye on myself ever again.”

Tylah now has to regularly see an optometrist to monitor the effects of the damage will have on her and Gina Taro, a PPD allergy specialist, said people need to be aware of PPD in products.

“Some people can suffer anaphylactic shock, where you have a small window before your throat closes and you die of suffocation, people have died because of PPD.”

Jodie Phillips, spokesperson from Chemcorp Pty Ltd who make the 1,000 Hour product said PPD is a common ingredient in hair dyes and advises everyone to do a patch test before using it.

“The young lady must have had a serve reaction and I do truly hope that she makes a fully recovery,” she said.