Woman's Scalp Burns During Hair Straightening. Then Doctors Find Damaged Kidneys

A woman suffered kidney damage after undergoing hair-straightening treatment at a salon. The case has been published in The New England Journal of Medicine in which doctors have described what happened to the woman. Her identity has been kept secret in the study. One of the doctors who treated her said one of the products used for hair straightening likely caused organ injuries. The doctor also said that the 26-year-old woman visited the salon to receive the popular hair treatment in June 2020, April 2021 and July 2022.

The woman had no previous health issues, but after each visit, she experienced vomiting, diarrhoea, fever and back pain. She also reported burning sensation on her scalp during the treatment and developed ulcers on her head, the study said.

The doctors noticed kidney malfunction after finding raised levels of creatinine in her blood. She had blood in her urine after which the doctors asked the woman to undergo a CT scan, but it showed no other sign of infection and her kidneys too were not blocked.

The woman told the doctors that her hair was treated with a straightening cream containing the chemical glyoxylic acid. The doctors arrived at the conclusion that this likely caused her scalp to burn and ulcerate.

After experiments on mice, they theorised that the acid absorbed through her skin and reached her kidneys, which caused damage upon being broken down.

The study said the woman suffered recurrent episodes of acute kidney injury due to oxalate nephropathy, a rare disorder that causes kidney function to decrease due to the build-up of calcium oxalate crystals in kidney tubules.

It added that the hair-straightening procedures provide evidence that glyoxylic acid is responsible.

"It would seem wise to ban the use of glyoxylic acid in these products and request that manufacturers find another, safer compound," Dr Joshua David King, an associate professor of medicine and pharmacy at the University of Maryland, told Live Science.

Hair straightening is a hair styling technique used since the 1890s involving the flattening and straightening of hair in order to give it a smooth, streamlined and sleek appearance.