A woman’s hair care routine appears to have left her with repeated kidney damage. In a new case study this month, her doctor describes how the woman’s use of hair-straightening products containing a certain ingredient may have damaged her kidneys. The ingredient, glyoxylic acid, has been linked to similar incidents in the past, and the authors believe it should be stopped in these products.
The case is detailed earlier this month in New England Journal of Medicine. According to reports, the 26-year-old woman began to suffer from back pain, fever, vomiting and diarrhea within a few days of receiving hair straightening treatment at the beauty salon. She also reported a burning sensation in her head after the treatment, which resulted in ulcers forming on her scalp. Between 2020 and 2022, she went to a beauty salon three times, and her symptoms recurred and then disappeared quickly. She reported that she was treated with a hair straightening cream containing glyoxylic acid at each appointment.
A medical examination of the woman by doctors found ongoing signs of kidney damage, such as elevated creatinine levels and blood in her urine. But she did not appear to have infection or other known causes of acute kidney injury, such as urinary tract obstruction. Given the timing of the woman’s symptoms and the lack of any other explanation, doctors said her exposure to glyoxylic acid was the most likely culprit. But to determine this, they went a step further and conducted experiments with mice.
The authors exposed the backs of some mice to the same product used by the woman and compared them to a control group (these mice were only smeared with Vaseline). The next day, tests found that the treated mice had higher creatinine levels compared to the control group. Only the exposed mice had “elongated” crystals of a chemical called calcium oxalate monohydrate in their urine, and they also had deposits of calcium oxalate monohydrate in their kidneys.
Based on these experiments and other evidence, the authors concluded that the glyoxylic acid in the product was absorbed through the women’s skin, eventually reaching the kidneys. The breakdown of glyoxylic acid results in the formation of calcium oxalate crystals that are sharp enough to damage the kidneys.
According to the survey, Joshua David King, associate professor of medicine and pharmacy at the University of Maryland (not affiliated with the university), Tell Living Science.
Interestingly, glyoxylic acid and similar chemicals are intended to be safer alternatives to formaldehyde, which has long been used in hair straightening products but is now being phased out in many countries. Concerns about its short- and long-term toxicityincluding a possible increased risk of cancer (U.S. expected The ban will be officially implemented next year).But this case study is just the latest evidence linking these Purportedly safer products Risk of kidney damage.
Although the woman’s symptoms were short-lived, the authors say their case should serve as a warning about the possible risks of glyoxylic acid in hair straightening products and that such products may need to be avoided or even “taken from the market.” “Stop Sale”.