After uterine cancer risks, new warning on risks of smoothing products for kidneys

A team of nephrologists from Marseille’s Conception Hospital explained the effects of a smoothing product on the kidneys of a 26-year-old woman. They identified the culprit: glyoxylic acid that can reach and damage the kidneys.

A new warning on hair straightening products today with Geraldine Zamansky, a journalist from Health magazine on France 5. Nephrologists at the Conception Hospital in Marseille have explained the toxic effects of hair straightening products on the kidneys.

franceinfo: After the risks of uterine cancer, is it a serious threat to the kidneys reported by the French team?

Geraldine Zamansky: Yes, we have told you here about the increased risk of uterine cancer associated with these straightening products. Because of one ingredient: formaldehyde. So manufacturers replaced it with glyoxylic acid. But that in turn presents a real threat to the kidneys, according to a warning published this week New England Journal of Medicine.

It all started with a young woman’s concern about the recurrence of sudden symptoms: nausea, vomiting, fatigue. In a third emergency, she was taken care of at Conception Hospital in Marseille. And this is where the conundrum Dr. Solved by Thomas Robert, Nephrologist: Each time it was acute kidney failure, caused by hair straightening, done the day before.

This is very worrying! And how can the link be established with certainty?

Dr. Robert told me that he was able to make this connection because of the proximity of the hairdresser’s visit during his hospitalization. He immediately expressed his suspicions to a Parisian colleague, Professor Emmanuel Letavernier, who researches the mechanisms of kidney disease at the Tanon Hospital.

So in his laboratory, a cream collected from a hairdresser could be applied to the skin of a few rats. In 24 hours, I quote Professor Letavernier, “It was catastrophic.” His kidneys were blocked by large amounts of crystals. The proof was given. And they clarified the guilt of glyoxylic acid, by adding it alone to petroleum jelly. Same result.

It sounds incredible, such toxicity! How is the young patient today?

She is fine, but she won’t do any preening anymore. Because Dr. Robert explained to him that behind the apparent recovery of his kidney, there may remain a scar, which is then responsible for chronic kidney failure with dialysis or transplant.

The team is afraid to see these cases increase, as its investigation with hairdressers revealed the root: customers want treatment to the root, while the product should not be applied to less than 5 mm of skin. This is where it can enter the bloodstream and become toxic.

These nephrologists therefore quickly reported the threat to health authorities, and hoped for a ban on the ingredient as well as a cosmetic safety review. Because since the end of their evaluation on animals in 2013, before marketing, this type of risk can hardly be identified.

Warning Published in New England Journal of Medicine.