Some ingredients in hair dye may have caused vision problems linked to retinopathy in three other patients before her, researchers say.
- The 61-year-old French woman reported progressively blurred vision in her eyes “a few days after dyeing her hair with a hair lotion containing aromatic amines,” in this case “paraphenylenediamine.”
- The 60-year-old switched hair dye brands, this time amine-free, and her vision returned to 100% within a month. This isn’t the first time hair dye has been linked to retinopathy: three previous cases were reported in 2022.
- Products based on aromatic amines such as paraphenylenediamine, classified as toxic by the INRS, “would ‘disrupt’ a neurochemical pathway essential to health”, according to the researchers.
A 61-year-old French woman developed retinopathy, which partially robbed her of her vision, after using a hair dye containing a certain type of ingredient that is believed to “disrupt a neurochemical pathway essential to health.” The story, which dates back a few years, was reported this week by the team of Dr Nicolas Chirpaz, ophthalmologist at the Edouard Herriot hospital in Lyon, in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology.
Hair dye causes retinopathy
The 60-year-old, with no history of vision problems, consulted doctors with progressively blurred vision in both eyes “a few days after dyeing my hair with a hair lotion containing aromatic amines,” in this case of the “paraphenylenediamine”, according to a press release. The woman was suffering from “multiple retinal detachments” which resembled the damage that can occur in retinopathies related to certain enzymes found in the eye. His eyes also had a “unhealthy thickening of the neurosensory retina.”
A series of tests were then carried out to rule out all possible causes, such as infections and even cancer. Ultimately, the retinal damage was indeed “diagnosed based on the temporal association between symptoms and hair dye exposure”the team of doctors concluded. The woman immediately changed the brand of dye, this time without amines, and her vision returned to 100% within a month. “Four years later, the patient has not experienced any recurrence.”
A toxic chemical substance is the cause
The study authors point out that this is not the first time that hair dye has been associated with retinopathy: three previous cases were reported in 2022 in middle-aged women after exposure to hair dyes containing aromatic amines. According to the most likely hypothesis, “aromatic amine products such as paraphenylenediamine may ‘disrupt’ a neurochemical pathway essential to the health of what are called retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells.”
Note that the National Institute for Research and Safety (INRS), which is involved in occupational health and the prevention of occupational risks, classifies paraphenylenediamine as a chemical substance “toxic if swallowed, in contact with skin, or inhaled,” which can “cause an allergic skin reaction” and “serious eye irritation”. Although paraphenylenediamine has been banned by European legislation since 2005 in all cosmetics intended to come into contact with the skin, it remains authorised, particularly in France, in hair dyes if its concentration does not exceed 6%.
Cases of retinopathy associated with exposure to aromatic amines in hair dyes are rare, but doctors should therefore remain open to the possibility when people present with unexplained retinopathy, the French researchers conclude.
