Parlour Dermatoses

Sukriti Sharma (DNB student, NDMC medical college, hindu rao hospital)
Khushbu Mahajan (Assistant Professor, NDMC medical college, hindu rao hospital)

The term PARLOUR DERMATOSES is rightly described asdermatoses that appear during or following a visit to a beauty salon.

The ratio of number of people visiting a parlour to that of those visiting a dermatologist is way higher a value than expected and so are the complications related to the parlour procedures.
Conditions that arise are often common ,thus to know about them and educate women to be cautious in choosing the parlour provided services is a must.

A list of common skin conditions associated with different procedures performed in parlours are :-

Threading of eyebrows–

a. Threading warts – its verruca plana following removal of eyebrow hair , found in females within 2-4 weeks post procedure who had no earlier foci of verruca and were not immunocomp. Few females also reported kobenerisation of verruca lesions present near the brow area.

eye-1

b. Molluscum contagiosum – a typical umbilicated lesion of MC were found in females post threading.

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c. Other asso complications –

  1. Folliculitis
  2. Pseudo folliculitis
  3. Bullous impetigo

Facial :-

A process where skin subjected to cleansing, vigorous scrubbing ,steaming, blackhead/whitehead extraction causes

  1. Acneiform eruptions
  2. Allergies to constituents of products
  3. Scarring
  4. Hyperpigmentation

Jet peel – peeling skin with a jet stream for deep cleansing and skin resurfacing developed periorbital cellulitis in a 19 yr old girl.

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Hair :-

  1. Hair straightening – use of extremely heated metal rods leads to breakage of hair shaft and frizzy hair.
  2. Keratin hair therapy – an upcoming treatment where a mixture of keratin and formaldehyde is introduced in hair by heating metal rods is being studied as a potential risk of leukemia (d/t formaldehyde gas)
  3. Hair coloring agents –
    • PPD – apermanent hair dye was declared the contact allergen of year 2006 by ACDS
    • Heena – a naturally occurring hair dye in india is allergen in some cases.

Pedicures/manicures :-

due to aggressive treatments, there is damage to cuticle , making it prone to bacterial infections.

Waxing :-

Burns – due to use of very hot wax

Pseudofolliculitis – due to breakage of hair shaft during the waxing process

Things to remember

  • Make sure disposable materials and instruments are used in the salon
  • Instruments and appliances are adequately sterilized
  • The staff at the salon is trained
  • Basic hygiene standards are adhered to.
  • Avoid excess handling of the skin
  • Inform the staff if you have existing allergies, sensitive skin or past experiences.
  • Avoid treatments during active infections on the areas to be treated.

References –

  1. Verma SB. Eyebrow threading: A popular hair-removal procedure and its seldom-discussed complications. Clin Exp Dermatol. 2008;34:363–5. [PubMed]
  2. Kumar R, Zawar V. Threading warts: A beauty parlor dermatosis. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2007;6:279–82.[PubMed]
  3. Verma SB. Vitiligo koebnerised by eyebrow plucking by threading. J Cosmetic Dermatol. 2002;1:214–5.[PubMed]
  4. Ghosh SK, Bandyopadhyay D. Molluscum contagiosum after eyebrow shaping: A beauty salon hazard.Clin Exp Dermatol. 2009;34:e339–40. [PubMed]
  5. J. Golan and N. Hai, “JetPeel: a new technology for facial rejuvenation,” Annals of Plastic Surgery, vol. 54, no. 4, pp. 369–374, 2005