'It smelt like rotting flesh': 10-year-old girl suffers chemical burn form black henna tattoo

We all know that when you’re on a family holiday with your children, it can be easy to get swept up in stalls offering services such as hair braids, cartoon drawings and temporary tattoos.

Everything always seems much more appealing on holiday, and we usually rush into paying for these services without a second thought. 

However, as one UK family recently found out, sometimes caution needs to be taken.

Alisha Evans (31) from Cheshire was enjoying a lovely family holiday in Turkey with her 10-year-old daughter, Amora. On the last day of her holiday, Amora treated herself to a black henna tattoo. 

Amora was delighted with the result initially, but when she and her family returned home to the UK the next day, the tattoo suddenly looked inflamed and started hurting Amora.

"When it was at its worst it had gone bright red, started blistering and then started oozing yellow pus," her mother described.

It is believed that Amora’s chemical reaction was caused by Paraphenylenediamine (PPD), which is often found in black henna and dark hair dyes.

"The doctor said that it's likely chemical burns and that they see it quite a lot and it's usually because PPD had been put in, and that matches what I'd read on my research,” Alisha continued.

Alisha admits that it was a “really worrying” time for her and her daughter. The family have decided to tell their story in order to raise awareness about the dangers of henna tattoos. 

"It smelt like rotting flesh, it was awful. I'd say to other parents to not let their children have these black henna tattoos, I had no idea that this PPD existed," Alisha remarked.

"It sounds really silly to let your child have them, but everybody had them and I didn't even think it could cause something like this."

Thankfully, Amora is now on the road to recovery after receiving antibiotics. However, she was warned by her doctors that if she starts to feel unwell, she should go to A&E as there's a risk she could develop sepsis.

Amora is continuing to suffer some pain through her recovery. “If she touches it, when she's putting the cream on or if she knocks it on anything, she's really teary,” her mother noted.

However, Amora’s spirits still remain relatively high, and she is even starting to joke about the situation. “"She's well in herself and thinks it's hilarious that she'll probably have a wolf-shaped scar, which I suppose is a nice way of looking at it in the eyes of a 10-year-old,” her mother praised.

Anyone who intends to get a henna tattoo is advised to conduct a test patch for allergies, before fully committing to the tattoo.