This is how the damage caused to the hair from sliding looks - under the microscope (@foli_q)
Ronit (pseudonym) began to suffer from stomach pains, vomiting, weakness and shortness of breath.
She did not imagine that when she went to the doctor and had blood tests done, she would be rushed to the hospital with severe kidney failure and undergo dialysis within a day.
She certainly did not imagine that the reason for this would be the straightening of her hair the day before.
Like Ronit, already 26 women in Israel (on average one woman per month) have been hospitalized in Israel with kidney failure after straightening their hair.
Among them, the first case of a 13-year-old girl who arrived at Wolfson Hospital;
A woman in her 15th week of pregnancy;
And a 42-year-old woman who, even after the straightening that caused her kidney failure, had another hair straightening that caused her a second episode of kidney failure.
While some of the women recovered spontaneously, some needed dialysis treatments.
There will be those who will say that out of thousands of women who straighten their hair in Israel per year, most of them come out without any harm, and "only" 26 women have reached kidney failure.
And I answer, kidney failure and dialysis is a very serious and even life-threatening illness.
My patients will tell you that they do not wish anyone in the world to go through the medical trauma they experienced.
This is a price that no one should have to pay for an external cosmetic procedure.
From the hairdresser to dialysis
In the 2000s, reports of symptoms from hair straighteners containing formalin began to arrive.
Mainly from hairstylists who were exposed to most of the smoke inhaled during skating.
The damages were manifested by irritation of the respiratory system (nose, throat and lungs), eye irritation, rash on the face, shortness of breath and pulmonary edema.
Fortunately, for over a decade in the world in general and in Israel in particular, the slides containing formalin have not been approved.
Although the modern preparations do not contain formalin, they include, among other things, glyoxylic acid.
The glyoxylic acid is absorbed through the skin of the scalp, which is rich in blood vessels, into the patient's blood system, hence the relatively increased absorption of the acid in the body.
In some of the victims, the scalp was injured, which increased the absorption of the substance, therefore it is forbidden to perform sliding on injured skin.
From the bloodstream, to the liver tissue, the glyoxylic acid undergoes decomposition processes into oxalic acid and calcium oxalate, which are re-entered the bloodstream and excreted from the body through the kidneys into the urine.
This process always occurs, to a low degree, in each and every one of us and is not harmful to the kidney cells.
But, exposure to extremely high doses of glyoxylic acid, causes kidney failure.
This is actually a case of oxalic acid poisoning.
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To the full article
Only dialysis was able to remove the toxin from the patients' blood.
A woman is skating (Photo: ShutterStock)
In kidney biopsies conducted for women who reached kidney failure after straightening their hair, calcium oxalate deposits were found in the kidney cells.
Only the dialysis was able to remove the toxin from the patients' blood and resulted in a faster recovery or reduced the kidney damage.
In 2021, a 3-year-old girl tried to drink a hair straightening product.
Thanks to the bitter taste of the preparation and minimal absorption in the oral cavity, without actual ingestion of the substance, the event "only" ended in severe kidney failure and dialysis, and not in death.
All of these led to the fact that in January 2023 the Ministry of Health announced the cancellation of licenses for hair straightening products for straighteners containing glyoxylic acid and having a PH lower than 4.
Another problem that was discovered is the unreliability, not to mention the lack of truth, in the information on the labels of hair straightening products in the world.
Thus, in 2010, a preparation was found in Ohio that was reported to be without formalin and actually contained 8.5 percent formalin, and in 2022 in Israel, in a preparation that boasted the absence of formalin and 2 percent glyoxylic acid, 3,082 ppm of formalin and 26.8 percent of glyoxylic acid were found.
only in Israel
It is interesting to note that apart from two cases reported in Egypt, all other cases of poisoning reported in the world came from Israel.
Is the metabolism in the "Israeli" liver different between the women of Israel and the women of the world?
Is the gene that breaks down glyoxylic acid a little "lazy" in Israeli women?
Is there a connection between the prevalence of the genetic disease hyperoxaluria in Israel and the calcium oxalate deposits in these patients?
And will it be possible in the future to offer these patients drug treatment as is given to type 3 hypercholeria patients?
These questions are in the initial processes of research and clarification, and it will take many more years before we know how to give a clear answer.
Until then, we would not want a single woman in Israel to risk her health.
And, who wants to straighten your hair, know that there are hair straightening products on the market that are safer from a renal point of view, without glyoxylic acid, and with a PH higher than 4, whose Ministry of Health licenses are active and valid.
Before the treatment, check with your hairstylist the ingredients of the product and find out what the latest licenses are from the Ministry of Health.
These, along with smoothing only when the scalp is intact and free of wounds, will help you maintain smooth hair, your body, and healthy proportions.
After all, we all know that your true beauty comes from within.
Dr. Mittal Kidar is the director of the pediatric nephrology service at Wolfson Hospital
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hair straightening
Renal failure
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