A MUM is warning parents not to let kids have black henna tattoos on their summer holidays after her daughter suffered infected chemical burns that smelled like ROTTING FLESH.
Alisha Evans said her daughter Amora Evans was ‘over the moon’ with a temporary wolf tattoo she had on their final day of their fortnight break in Turkey earlier this month [AUG 5].
But two days after returning to the UK, the mum-of-two said her ten-year-old began complaining of a painful and itchy arm, so rushed her to a pharmacist as soon as possible.
The 31-year-old said that over the course of ten days the wound on her arm became ‘angry looking’ as blisters started to bubble up before it turned bright red and started oozing yellow pus.
It’s believed that the burn was caused by Paraphenylenediamine (PPD) – a chemical commonly found in black henna and dark hair dyes.
After two trips to the pharmacist and a doctor’s visit where she was prescribed antibiotics, Amora is now finally on the mend.
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Alisha, who is head of compliance for an insurance broker, is now keen to raise awareness of the dangers of black henna tattoos in a bid to prevent another child going through the same ordeal.
Alisha, of Alsager, Cheshire, said: “It smelt like rotting flesh, it was awful.
“I’d say to other parents to not let their children have these black henna tattoos, I had no idea that this PPD existed.
“It sounds really silly to let your child have them, but everybody had them and I didn’t even think it could cause something like this.
“To be honest, I was really scared at first because I didn’t know what it was and what was happening, which is why I started researching it so thoroughly.
“Then I realised that it was actually really common.
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“Thankfully a more severe reaction hasn’t happened and it hasn’t got any worse. It’s just worrying.”
Alisha shared her daughter’s experience on Facebook as a warning to others where her post racked up more than 2,000 likes and comments.
Alisha said: “She loves wolves and really wanted one the day before we were leaving.
“It was lovely, I had no idea that it was anything bad.
“She was so happy honestly, her little face, she was over the moon.
“She said ‘can you send this picture to my friend’s mum and dad so she can see my wolf tattoo?’
“That evening it was fine, we did exactly what we were told and washed it off after an hour.
“We flew home on Saturday and it wasn’t until the next day [August 7th] when I collected her from a birthday party that she said ‘Mummy, my arm’s been hurting and itching. I can’t stop scratching’.
“I had a look and saw the state of it.”
The next day they visited a pharmacy where Amora was given antihistamines and cream and advised to keep the wound clean.
Alisha said: “We did that and it looked like it was starting to get better, so we thought it was working.
“It was only after that that it started getting worse, that’s when it got a lot more angry looking and the blisters started forming.
“We went back to the pharmacy on Monday [August 15th] and they had a look at it and said that it looked infected and advised us to see a doctor and gave us a healing gel.
“When it was at its worst [August 15th and 16th] it had gone bright red, started blistering and then started oozing yellow pus.
“The doctor said that it’s likely chemical burns and that they see it quite a lot and it’s usually because PPD had been put in, and that matches what I’d read on my research.
“When speaking to the doctor and how concerned they sounded after seeing all the pictures, it was just really worrying.”
Amora was given a course of antibiotics and the doctor advised that if she starts to feel unwell, to take her to A&E as there’s a risk that she could develop sepsis.
But luckily the antibiotics kicked in shortly after and she’s now finally on the road to recovery.
Alisha said: “We went to a children’s festival at the weekend and she couldn’t go on the Sunday as she was fed up with itching.
“She had to stay at the holiday bungalow with my partner as she couldn’t cope with it.
“If she touches it, when she’s putting the cream on or if she knocks it on anything, she’s really teary.
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“She’s well in herself and thinks it’s hilarious that she’ll probably have a wolf-shaped scar, which I suppose is a nice way of looking at it in the eyes of a ten-year-old.
“It looks awful still but it’s on the mend.”
