Young British holidaymaker, 22, suffered horrifying burns after getting a £4 black henna tattoo in Moroccan seaside resort

Forrás: Daily Mail. Szerző: Nick Enoch.

Sophie Akis (right, with her mother, Wendy) suffered a horrific reaction which left her hands swollen and ‘blistered’ after getting a ‘black henna’ tattoo on holiday in Agadir, Morocco

A young woman suffered a horrific reaction which left her hands swollen and ‘blistered’ after getting a ‘black henna’ tattoo on holiday.

Sophie Akis decided to have the temporary tattoo after being approached by a street vendor on the beach during a holiday with her family in the seaside resort of Agadir, in Morocco.

The 22-year-old, who was on holiday with her husband and other relatives, even opted to have her skin tested and waited 24 hours before paying the equivalent of £4 for the popular temporary inking.

Now Ms Akis’s mother, Wendy, who was on holiday with her daughter at the time, has issued a warning to holidaymakers, saying: ‘Please, please do not go abroad and think this will be OK. It’s not. It’s a very high price to pay for a bit of art.’

Wendy, a housekeeper from Yardley Wood, Birmingham, said within hours her daughter ‘was in a mess’ with her hands swollen and ‘blistered’.

She continued: ‘We are a large Asian family so Sophie has often had henna tattoos for weddings when in this country and has been fine, but we took the precaution of having a test first in Morocco.

‘Sophie reacted badly to hair dyes when she was younger so I wanted to be sure.

‘We waited 24 hours and then she had the henna done on the tops of both hands. Within hours she was in a mess. Her hands were swollen and blistered.

‘Because she was flying home the next day, we took her to a pharmacist who gave her a tablet and then bandaged her hands after putting some cream on so she could fly comfortably.’

Wendy, 56, said that as soon as her daughter and husband landed in Turkey where the couple now live, they went straight to their local hospital.

Doctors there said it was an allergic reaction and gave the distressed patient an iodine solution to bathe her hands in every 10 minutes for two days as well as a cortisone cream.

‘She is still in a lot of pain,’ said Wendy.

‘I feel terrible for her.

‘Hopefully if she looks after her hands carefully she won’t be scarred.’

The mother-of-four urged those travelling abroad to think twice before opting for the inkings which in many cases are not henna at all, but a substance called paraphenylenediamine which can cause blistering, painful skin burns and may even lead to scarring.

The British Skin Foundation has launched a campaign to #AvoidBlackHenna as summer approaches.

The Cosmetic, Toiletry and Perfumery Association, meanwhile, also issued a warning confirming that ‘having a ‘black henna’ temporary tattoo presents a significant risk of a very nasty adverse reaction to the tattoo itself.’

Atomic Kitten star Natasha Hamilton is backing a British Skin Foundation campaign to #AvoidBlackHenna as summer approaches.

Upon returning from a holiday in Morocco, her son Alfie aged six was left with a scar on his leg where the tattoo had been.