A 17-year-old Israeli girl was admitted to hospital with severe kidney failure after a hair-straightening treatment, while a month ago, a 25-year-old woman also suffered from kidney failure linked to a similar treatment.
The teenager, admitted with vomiting, dizziness, and severe headaches, was diagnosed with acute kidney failure for several days in the paediatric ward at Shaare Zedek Medical Centre, reports The Times of Israel.
She was released this week and will continue outpatient follow-up at the facility’s paediatric nephrology institute.
In 2023, a study published by Professor Linda Shavit, head of the hospital’s nephrology institute, and Dr Alon Benaya, a physician at the institute, had documented 26 cases of women aged 14 to 58 with no underlying medical conditions who arrived at emergency departments across the country with severe kidney failure.
The researchers found that all of them had undergone hair-straightening treatments containing glyoxylic acid. The Health Ministry has since revoked licences for dozens of cosmetic products containing glyoxylic acid.
“It is essential not to apply hair-straightening products directly to the scalp or the hair roots, but to maintain a distance of at least 1.5cm from them,” warned Shavit. “In addition, both hairdressers and clients must be careful not to heat the product and to adhere to the manufacturer’s instructions.”
Study details
Acute Kidney Injury and Hair Straightening Products: A Case Series
Alon Bnaya, Nabil Abu-Amer, Pazit Be, Alexander Volkov et al.
Published in American Journal of Kidney Diseases in January 2023
Abstract
Rationale & objective
Keratin-based hair straightening treatment is a popular hair styling method. The majority of these products in Israel contain glycolic acid derivatives, which are considered safe when used topically. Systemic absorption of these products is possible and anecdotal reports have described kidney toxicity associated with their use. We report a series of cases of severe AKI following use of hair-straightening treatment occurring in Israel over the past several years.
Setting & participants
We retrospectively identified 26 patients from 14 medical centres in Israel who developed severe AKI and reported prior treatment with hair-straightening products between 2019 and 2022.
Findings
The 26 patients described had a median age of 28.5 years (range, 14-58) and developed severe AKI after hair-straightening procedure. The most common symptoms at presentation were nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Scalp rash was noted in 10 (38%) patients. Two patients developed a recurrent episode of AKI following a repeat hair-straightening treatment. Seven patients underwent kidney biopsies that demonstrated intra-tubular calcium oxalate deposition in six and microcalcification in tubular cells in one. In all biopsies, signs of acute tubular injury were present, and an interstitial infiltrate was noted in four cases. Three patients required temporary dialysis.
Limitations
Retrospective uncontrolled study, small number of kidney biopsies.
Conclusions
This study describes cases of acute kidney injury with prior exposure to hair straightening treatments. Acute oxalate nephropathy was the dominant finding on kidney biopsies, which may be related to absorption of glycolic acid derivatives and their metabolism to oxalate. This case series suggests a potential under-recognized cause of AKI in the young healthy population. Further studies are needed to confirm this association and to assess the extent of this phenomenon as well as its pathogenesis.
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