It’s happening again: a girl was hospitalized with kidney damage after straightening her hair

A 17-year-old girl from the Kiryat area was hospitalized last week at the Bnei Zion Medical Center after suffering from severe stomach pains and vomiting, shortly after undergoing a hair straightening treatment at an unlicensed hair salon. The tests carried out at the hospital revealed that she suffers from kidney failure, apparently due to exposure to glyoxylic acid – a substance found in some hair straightening products that are not approved for use and can cause serious kidney damage.

Upon her arrival at the Children’s Medical Center, the medical teams performed a quick series of tests during which it was suspected that her condition was related to the aesthetic treatment she underwent. After several days of hospitalization and follow-up in the children’s department, her condition stabilized – and she was released to her home.

In the health section of mako, we have dealt extensively in recent months with the possible dangers of unapproved hair straightening and the cases of kidney damage linked to certain substances in preparations used in hairdressing salons, after dozens of women have reached a similar situation in the last three years.

In recent years, Shaare Zedek Medical Center conducted the largest and first study of its kind in the world that examined the relationship between hair straightening and acute kidney failure. The research was led by Prof. Linda Shavit, director of the Nephrology Institute at the hospital. The findings, published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, later led to the ban on the use of glyoxylic acid in Israel and warnings in other countries as well.

“It started with four young, healthy patients who came with acute kidney failure without a clear explanation,” said Prof. Shavit. Later, 26 women between the ages of 14 and 58 were found throughout the country who developed kidney damage after straightening their hair, and three of them even needed dialysis.

According to her, some of the slip preparations contain glyoxylic acid – a substance that may be absorbed into the bloodstream, sink into the kidneys and cause acute damage. In addition, it may also cause chemical burns and damage to the scalp.

According to Prof. Benya Rosen-Zvi, chairman of the Association of Nephrologists in Israel, the doctors’ role in such cases is first to identify a dangerous pattern and warn. “In the end, we are doctors and not regulators or enforcement agents, our job is to raise a flag. When we identify an illness caused by exposure to a certain substance, we report. Every hospital reported, and the information flowed on, until it also reached the decision-makers.” He added: “If we identified a toxic substance, we labeled it, it was banned from use, and still women continue to be harmed – so in the result test we failed as a system. It’s not an easy statement, but it needs to be said. Otherwise it will just keep happening.”