17-year-old girl hospitalized for kidney failure after hair-straightening treatment

A 17-year-old girl who underwent a hair-straightening treatment was hospitalized with severe kidney failure at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, the hospital reports.

Another woman, 25, also suffered from kidney failure caused by hair straightening a little over a month ago.

The girl, suffering from vomiting, dizziness, and severe headaches, was hospitalized with acute kidney failure for several days in the pediatric department.

She was released on Monday and will continue outpatient follow-up at the hospital’s pediatric nephrology institute.

A study published by Prof. Linda Shavit, head of the hospital’s nephrology institute, and Dr. Alon Benaya, a physician at the institute, in 2023 documented 26 cases of women aged 14 to 58 with no underlying medical conditions who arrived at emergency departments across the country with severe kidney failure.

The researchers found that all of them had undergone hair-straightening treatments containing glyoxylic acid. The Health Ministry has since revoked licenses for dozens of cosmetic products containing glyoxylic acid.

“It is essential not to apply hair-straightening products directly to the scalp or the hair roots, but to maintain a distance of at least 1.5 centimeters from them,” says Shavit. “In addition, both hairdressers and clients must be careful not to heat the product and to act only according to the manufacturer’s instructions.”