FDA warns PPD found in black henna tattoos can cause allergic reactions.

There were several reports Monday in national publications concerning a Food and Drug Administration announcement about the dangers of a chemical found in black henna tattoos that could lead to allergic reactions. Many of the articles stressed that the allergen was not located in natural henna tattoos.

        The Los Angeles Times (3/25, Brown, 692K) "Booster Shots" health blog reports the FDA announced that temporary henna tattoos "may leave a longer-lasting physical effect" because "hair dye including p-phenylenediamine" (PPD) found in "longer-lasting 'black henna' tattoos" can trigger allergic reactions, which can cause "redness, blisters, oozing lesions, increased sensitivity to sunlight and permanent scarring." The Times explains henna "is a reddish-brown pigment that comes from the flowering plant Lawsonia inermis" that people have used as a "cosmetic and a dye for hair and fabrics for thousands of years. But so-called black henna, often used in tourist destinations and other specialty shops, is a different product and may not include natural henna at all." The PPD allergies were noted in a recent study published in the Journal of the German Society of Dermatology.

        The New York Daily News (3/26, Miller, 543K) reports the FDA claims the allergic reactions "occur immediately after receiving the treatment or as long as 2-3 weeks later, and have landed people in emergency rooms." Dr. Neil Sadick, "a professor of clinical dermatology at Weill Cornell Medical College with a private practice in Manhattan, says he has treated several patients for black henna reactions in recent years." Sadick said, "People can contact dermatitis from the henna in the tattoo. They can get weeping blisters, or another allergic reaction."

        NBC News (3/25, Dahl) reports on its website that the "photos of reactions to the black henna can be striking." For example, the FDA posted an "image of a group of friends showing off their temporary tattoos - the littlest hand in the group is that of a 5-year-old girl, whose skin severely reddened where the tattoo was applied. And in 2008, we wrote about a New England Journal of Medicine case study describing a 19-year-old woman whose skin bubbled up over the swirly tattoo pattern after she got a black henna tattoo at a wedding."

        The Boston Globe (3/25, Kotz, 250K) "Daily Dose" health blog reports PPD has been "banned in skin cosmetics, it's still cropping up in temporary tattoos applied at local beaches and foreign resorts. Massachusetts has a number of temporary tattoo artists, who advertise their services online for weddings and other special events, and it's best to ask them if they use black hair dye in their products; some airbrush them on with skin paints." The Massachusetts Department of Public Health "regulates tattoo parlors that provide permanent tattoos, but kiosks offering temporary ones."