A guy is urging Brits to always do a hair dye tolerance test when using hair dye – after a horror reaction left him with a giant “balloon head” like the cartoon character Megamind.
Shocking photos show Ryan Briggs’ entire head swelling up, first in a large hoop-like shape around his forehead before his whole face swelled up – he had to take 25 tablets a day to reduce the swelling. Ryan Briggs went to his mother’s house on July 27 and learned that she had bought him black hair dye to cover up a few new grey hairs.
The 27-year-old applied the formula to his scalp and admitted he didn’t do a patch test as he didn’t know it was necessary. Although he felt a burning sensation, the gasfitter assumed this was normal and went to sleep, only to wake up and find a flaky rash had formed around his hairline.
Ryan went to work as usual and was horrified to see his face getting bigger and bigger throughout the day and to find himself with an incredibly itchy “balloon head”. After his colleagues sent him home from work, he went to the hospital but was told to come back the next day if it was worse – to the horror of his girlfriend.
When Ryan woke up the next day, he found his face so swollen that he could no longer see out of one eye. He was taken to hospital by ambulance, where he was told he had had a reaction to paraphenylenediamine (PPD), a chemical commonly found in hair dye. The poor guy had to take 25 tablets a day to reduce the huge swelling.
Online, the NHS website warns people to always do a patch test before using any permanent or semi-permanent hair colour, “even if you’re using your normal brand”. Ryan, from Blackburn, Lancashire, said: “I was at my mum’s house and obviously I’ve got a few grey hairs.”
“My mom got me some paint. I was supposed to do a patch test, but I didn’t know it was necessary. I put the paint on and it burned a little bit, but I thought that’s just how it is. Obviously that wasn’t what was intended.
“The next day I woke up with a very mild rash. It wasn’t that bad, but as the day went on my head started to swell. I went to work and from then on it just got worse. My coworkers said, ‘You need to go to the hospital.’
“It was really itchy. I didn’t look like myself at all. It was horrible. It was huge. I looked like Megamind, it was bad. I went to the hospital and they sent me home and said if it got worse to come back the next day. I went home and my girlfriend was speechless, she couldn’t look at me because I didn’t look like myself anymore, I had this big balloon head.”
After spending 13 hours in the hospital trying to reduce swelling in his neck and airways, Ryan was discharged. Over the next five days, the worker had to take a total of 25 tablets a day to reduce the swelling.
Ryan said: “I thought I would wake up and it would be gone, but I woke up and it was completely different. When I looked in the mirror that morning, I didn’t know what to think.
“I called 911 and got an ambulance to come and pick me up as I obviously couldn’t drive as I couldn’t see. They said it was an allergic reaction to PPD which is in the chemicals in the hair dye.
“I was in the hospital for about 13 hours and was discharged around 3am. They didn’t give me anything to take home as they didn’t have anything in stock. I had to call my doctors the next day. My girlfriend had to get the tablets for me from the pharmacy as I still couldn’t see.”
Although all is well now, Ryan claims he has crusts on his scalp and is now warning others not to make the same mistake as him and always do a patch test. Ryan said: “Now it’s completely gone. My scalp is full of yellow and green crusts but my face is normal now.
“Always do a patch test. It could have been worse, it went down to my throat and stuff. That’s why they kept me there because if it had gone down to my throat it could have blocked my airway. I’m glad it’s over now, but definitely do a patch test, a million percent.”
The NHS website states that many permanent and some semi-permanent hair dyes contain PPD, a “known irritant and allergen,” and that the concentration is higher in darker dyes.
