Hair dye poisoning and the developing world

Hair dye poisoning has been emerging as one of the important causes of intentional self harm in the developing world. Hair dyes contain paraphenylene-diamine and a host of other chemicals that can cause rhabdomyolysis, laryngeal edema, severe metabolic acidosis and acute renal failure. Intervention at the right time has been shown to improve the outcome. In this article, we review the various manifestations, clinical features and treatment modalities for hair dye poisoning.