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Search forBristol boy, aged 3, scarred by holiday henna tattoo
Wednesday, October 01, 2008, 08:00
Vinnie England was on holiday in Benidorm, Spain, with his family when he got the two-and-a-half inch image of the cartoon character painted on the bottom of his right arm at a henna tattoo street stall.
A few days after returning home, Vinnie began to complain that his arm was hurting.
On inspection, his mother Hayley Shipway found the skin around the temporary tattoo had begun to go red and blister.
Hayley, 24, who lives in Southmead with Vinnie and his four-week-old sister Ruby, said: "His arm felt lumpy and the skin was blistering. There was a red ring around the outline of the Bart Simpson picture.
"I took him to the doctor and they gave him a steroid cream to put on it. The next morning it had got much worse so I took him back to the doctors and as soon as I lifted up his sleeve and showed the nurse her face just dropped.
"It was inflamed and sore, and looked like the Bart Simpson had been scratched into his skin with a pin. It's irritating him like mad and he's in pain if you touch his arm."
Hayley has let Vinnie have children's stick-on tattoos before. Now he keeps saying: "Can you take it off now, Mummy?"
She said: "What can I say to that? It's painful for Vinnie and he feels uncomfortable, but he's too young to realise what the damage may be.
"The ink has faded but we have been told that the scarring in the shape of Bart Simpson may be permanent because he had such a bad reaction.
"I just feel so guilty. People have said it's not our fault, but we let him have it done."
A genuine henna tattoo is meant to fade within 10 days. The ink is usually red/brown or green/brown in colour, but the ink used on Vinnie's skin was black.
Jane Sansom, consultant dermatologist at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We quite often see these cases. These so-called henna tattoos often contain a hair dye chemical called PPD (paraphenylenediamine).
"It is sometimes mixed into the henna abroad because this chemical is cheaper but still dyes the skin.
"It is used at a concentration of about 20 per cent, whereas in hair dye it's only used at about one or two per cent, so you can imagine why this boy had such a bad reaction.
"It does usually cause a delayed reaction and causes a contact dermatitis at the site of the tattoo. This can include redness, inflammation, itchiness and blistering.
"The scar tissue may appear lighter than the skin for some weeks and maybe months after the reaction. It would be very unusual that it would permanently scar the child but he will have a lifelong allergy to this chemical.
"Temporary tattoos from traders using unknown substances should be avoided by people of all ages."
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