Ryan Briggs, 27, from Lancashire, UK, described the “horrible” incident that occurred in July at his mother’s house, where she gave him dye to cover his gray hair.
“I applied the dye and felt a slight burn, but I assumed that was normal,” the gas technician told Kennedy News Agency. “It turns out it wasn’t.”
The next morning, Briggs noticed a small rash, which he initially ignored until his head began to “expand,” he recounted.
“I was at work when it got worse. I looked like Megamind—it was that bad,” he said.
Photos show Briggs with a swollen band around his forehead. “I didn’t look like myself at all. It was enormous,” Briggs added.
He noted that his shocked girlfriend couldn’t bear to look at him due to his “balloon head” appearance. “My colleagues said, ‘You need to get to the hospital,’” said Briggs, who followed their advice.
Despite the severe swelling, doctors advised him to return home and report back if his condition worsened, which it did. “I hoped it would go away overnight, but it was even worse when I woke up,” he said. He called an ambulance as he couldn’t see due to the swelling.
Doctors identified the problem as an allergic reaction to paraphenylenediamine (PPD), a common irritant in hair dyes. Briggs spent 13 hours in the hospital while doctors worked to prevent the swelling from affecting his neck and airways.
He was later discharged, but his girlfriend had to obtain prescription medication as he still had impaired vision due to the swelling. His head has since returned to normal size, though he has scabs on his scalp.
Briggs is relieved that his throat didn’t close up. “It could have been worse—it was heading into my neck,” he said.
He now advises others to perform a patch test before using hair dye to avoid similar reactions.
