Little girl scarred after her black henna tattoo caused blisters that burned of her skin

News24xx.com - A young girl’s trip to Egypt with her family has turned sour after her hand developed painful blisters as an allergic reaction to the henna dye used on her ‘temporary tattoo’.

Martin, a manager for Royal Mail, from the Isle of Wight, said he had a great holiday with wife Sylvia, 43, son Sebastian, nine, and daughter Madison, seven, until the beginning of the second week.


Sylvia had to be rushed to hospital with a gall bladder infection, and although everything worked out fine, the family spent two days of their holiday in hospital. As a treat for being so well behaved, Martin decided to pay for both of the kids to have a black henna tattoo.

But shortly after returning home on July 25 the skin under Madison’s tattoo started to bubble.

Martin, the little girl’s father said: “She is potentially scarred for life after getting a black henna tattoo.

“The tattoo was done in the hotel’s salon and they claim it’s not the henna and that it’s my daughter’s skin. She has blisters from her finger to her elbow and is in so much pain.

“We were entirely unaware of the dangers and I think they should warn of this in the brochures.

“I think it’s partly my fault because I didn’t know about it, but also the fault of the salon because they are using dangerous chemicals on children.”



As soon as Madison was brought to the hospital, doctors tried to remove the blisters. However, they appeared to be too thick, and needed to be cut off instead.

Martin added: “They decided to treat the skin by removing the blisters, so they could access the burned skin underneath,”

‘They thought they would be able to soak the blisters and rub them off, but that wasn’t possible as they were so thick, so they had to cut them off.”

The addition of paraphenylenediamine (PPD) into henna dyes and the potential for this allergenic chemical to cause hypersensitivity reactions is a public health issue.

PPD is an oxidative chemical that is used in many home and salon permanent hair coloring products. “Henna tattoo artists” are continuing to add PPD to natural henna in their practices to increase the intensity and longevity of the tattoo and expedite the drying time for the henna.


Now, Martin wants to warn others of the danger of black henna tattoos.

‘We have emailed the hotel but they said there’s nothing wrong with the henna, and it must be a problem with my daughter,’ he said.

‘We don’t want compensation, the main thing is to care for Madison and minimise the scarring because we don’t want her growing up with a scar for the rest of her life.’

The hotel in Hurghada apologised and said it no longer offered the tattoos.