Psychiatric manifestations in hair dye poisoning

ABSTRACT

To study the psychiatric manifestations in patients attempting suicide using paraphenylenediamine, a component of locally used hair dye. A prospective study of 50 successive patients who presented with acute hair dye poisoning was carried out after their recovery from the acute toxic phase. About 58% of the cases were attempted suicide as compared to 12% who completed suicide and 30% in whom the ingestion was accidental. Seventy per cent of the patients showed significant psychiatric manifestations. Psychiatric assessment and treatment is vital in these cases