A French woman’s dyeing job inadvertently put her eyesight at risk. In a new case report this week, the woman’s doctor described how she began experiencing retinal detachment and vision loss soon after using hair dye containing certain chemicals. Thankfully, once she stopped using the product, her vision returned to normal over time and she was able to continue coloring her hair safely using different ingredients.
Doctors from France’s Edouard Herriot Hospital and LEO Eye Center reported the compelling medical story in a magazine on Thursday American Medical Association Ophthalmology. The 61-year-old woman went to the doctor after experiencing blurred vision in both eyes for several days, the newspaper reported. Tests confirmed that her symptoms were caused by damage to the retina, the layer of cells at the back of the eye that captures light and converts it into the information we and our brains need to process vision.
The woman had no medical history that would explain the retinal damage, also known as retinopathy, and doctors’ tests could not find other common causes, such as infection or cancer. But the woman did mention that just before she developed symptoms, she had recently used store-bought hair dye containing the chemical paraphenylenediamine.
Paraphenylenediamine belongs to a group of chemicals called aromatic amines. Fortunately, doctors are also aware of other recent cases of retinopathy in middle-aged women who used hair dyes containing aromatic amines, or RAHDAA. Given the timing of her eye problems and the lack of any other clear alternative explanation, they determined the woman had a case of RAHDAA.
RAHDAA is similar to another form of retinopathy associated with the use of anticancer drugs that inhibit the activity of the MEK protein. The authors say that both these drugs and aromatic amines may cause retinal damage by interfering with pathways important for the survival and homeostasis of retinal pigment epithelial cells. The condition does appear to be rare, but according to case reports, people who suffer scalp injuries while using hair dyes containing aromatic amines may be at higher risk (the woman in this case had no such injuries).
As for the woman, her story ultimately has a happy ending. She immediately stopped using the dye, and within four months, her vision returned to normal with no signs of retinal detachment. At a checkup four years later, the woman reported that she had switched to amine-free hair dye, and tests confirmed that her vision was still as good as before, although she still seemed to have some lingering changes in her vision. Even if there are no symptoms.
While these cases are “likely rare,” the report authors said other doctors should be aware of the condition and be willing to consider amine-containing dyes as a possible cause of their patients’ retinal problems, especially if initial testing fails to find any other clear indications. answer when the result is obtained.
