A five-year-old has been left with a dragon-shaped scar on his arm after suffering an allergic reaction to a black henna tattoo he got on holiday.
Mason Abrams, 5, from Basingstoke, went to Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt in December with his parents and his four siblings for a nine-day holiday.
During the trip the family decided to get henna tattoos at a local shopping centre, with Mason choosing a dragon design on his arm.
Mason’s mum, Kirsty Campbell Russell, 36 said no one suffered any irritation while abroad, but when Mason's design had rubbed off 10 days later, he had a raised imprint of the dragon on his arm.
Kirsty said: “He's the youngest of five so if all the others are getting one it was a bit mean to not let him get one.
"I had one done too and mine and everyone else's was fine. The tattoo looked fine and he didn't complain at all. It was only 10 days later when the black had faded that we realised that he had reacted."
She said that the Mason's arm had become red and raised and that the marks from December can still be seen now.
Kirsty said: "I think he's going to be scarred for life, it looks like a scar now.
"You can still see it on his arm and I'm worried it's going to be there forever and he's going to be left with a permanent tattoo from it."
She said Mason wasn’t in any pain but when the design didn’t fade she booked a video call with his GP which confirmed that he had suffered an allergic reaction to the dye.
Kirsty said: “I noticed that it was an allergic reaction and I did feel a bit guilty about it, but we asked if it was safe and the guy showed us photos of toddlers getting it done.
"We trusted where we had it done. The doctor just told us to be careful in the sunshine and put extra sun cream on it until it's fully healed.”
She said the doctor said Mason had a reaction because the artist had used black henna and not traditional henna which is a brown-orange colour.
According to the British Skin Foundation, black henna frequently contains the chemical dye p-Phenylenediamine [PPD], which can cause blistering, painful burns and scarring to the skin.
Kirsty warned people about getting henna tattoos on holiday and urged they should check the ingredients before getting one done.
She said: “I would tell people to check what ingredients are in the henna and note it shouldn't be black it should be brown.
"The man just told me it was safe and I just presumed henna was henna. I didn't realise there were different types."
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