Hairdresser's nose collapses from clippings

[ilovelonghair]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/the-other-side/hairdressers-nose-collapses-from-clippings/story-e6frfhk6-1225938563285

We better watch out when doing s&d or self trims!

[nellreno]

Eek. I always wondered about breathing in all the bits of hair.

[evampr18]

Good call on this one ilovelonghair

[FoxRain]

Eek. I always wondered about breathing in all the bits of hair.

Yes me too. I always thought that it might not be healthy. Too bad I was right :(
Thank you for the link ilovelonghair. When I start trimming again, I will wear a mask!

[Juneii]

woah, that is something I have never thought about...

[Dragon]

Interesting, Thanks for sharing. I have never thought about it.

[Maverick494]

I don´t think we should worry. It is only because she got a wound it got infected (because she ignored it and just kept on going. That's asking for trouble.) I think that if you just pay attention to what you´re doing you´re going to be fine. Once your nose gets slightly irritated, stop.

Besides, it´s not like us LHC´ers trim all that much and all that often. This hairdresser has been cutting hair for 35 years and I take it she did it more than once a week. Most of us don´t trim for months at a time, so I don´t think that´s a fair comparison.

The only ones who should be alarmed by this are people in the same profession who have a tendency to ignore small wounds and irritated patches.

[Tiina]

I do not see any doctors confirming that it was the hairs that did the damage. Noses have methods to take care of themselves. The bits either get sneezed out or eventually swallowed down with the mucus that catches the microparticles. If hair got lodged in her nose and stayed there for 35 years then there was probably some problem with her nose's mucus tissue that didn't let itself be cleaned. Much more dangerous than hair can be the chemicals inhaled. Or nosepicking. :p

[pepperminttea]

Much more dangerous than hair can be the chemicals inhaled. Or nosepicking. :p

This. I'd be more worried about breathing in perming solution than bits of hair. Though I do wonder if it'd be less bad if it was your own hairs? :hmm:

Thanks for the link ilovelonghair - definitely something to think about. :)

[Maverick494]

I think Mythbusters could do well to inspect this one.


Though I do wonder if it'd be less bad if it was your own hairs?

That doesn't matter. Hair can't be digested by the body, whether it's own hair or someone else's hair. To illustrate: there are cases of people with extreme Trichotillomania (hairpulling) who swallow their own hair (yeah I know, strange idea huh) who needed surgery because the hair couldn't be digested. So though this is a different issue, it serves to prove how tough hair is.

I've heard stuff like this about people who kept an army of cats around the house (who also slept on the bed) and inhaled too many hairs through the nose. It is possible to get problems from inhaling hair, but highly unlikely.

[WinterInBloom]

I'm wondering how this lady didn't know that her nose was infected until it got so extreme? I know infections can get bad fast, but I've always known when I've developed an infection and they don't get bad unless I choose to ignore them and not do something about them.:hmm:

[JenniferNoel]

Uck - I don't know how she didn't realize that inhaling the clippings was causing damage, I mean, what about sneezing? Common sense?
I always take care around hair clippings, and I always, always do my best in my day to day life not to inhale what is not meant to be inhaled.
But still, good call posting this one. A lot of people probably never thought of that.

[Demetrue]

This further deepens my resolve to save hairdressers from nose disasters by keeping my hair at a safe distance from their noses or their scissors.

[Niwa]

This further deepens my resolve to save hairdressers from nose disasters by keeping my hair at a safe distance from their noses or their scissors.Lol! Good one. I join you in your resolve.

[BelleBot]

This sounds highly dubious to me. There are plenty of jobs that involve higher risks of inhaling small particles or fibres and you don't hear cases of people's noses collapsing from that.
Maybe I'm just a cynic, but I think she's just making excuses for something else, perhaps a coke habit. :rolleyes:

[rusika1]

This sounds highly dubious to me. There are plenty of jobs that involve higher risks of inhaling small particles or fibres and you don't hear cases of people's noses collapsing from that.
Maybe I'm just a cynic, but I think she's just making excuses for something else, perhaps a coke habit. :rolleyes:


Well said, Bellebot!

ETA: This is a remarkably bad piece of journalism.
Look, we have hairs in our nostrils as part of the first defense of our lungs- the hairs are there to catch any foreign bodies we might inhale. Once caught, they're usually expelled by regular exhalations, or by snorting, sneezing or blowing. Anything that isn't caught--usually only very small particles-- is going to make the trip further down your respiratory system, not hang around in your nostrils. So if you're going to worry, worry about lung disease, not collapsing noses.

At any rate, How, exactly, would loose hairs 'root' themselves in her nostrils? The hairs aren't alive, they're trimmed pieces of dead tissue. Let's say she had an open wound in one of her nostrils. She inhales a hair clipping, and against all odds it sticks to the wound. The wound heals over the hair, embedding it under a thin layer of tissue. Essentially, you now have a small splinter in your nose, except the only way the clipping has the slightest chance of embedding itself is if you already have an open sore. And the human body is very good at defending itself from small foreign bodies, either by encapsulating it in scar tissue or by forcing it out completely.

[RocketDog]

Dunno what to think of this story - I am a dog groomer and whenever I blow my nose I do find a lot of dog hair (TMI?) but I don't think my nose is going to implode.

[ScarlettAdelle]

Holy occupational hazard, Batman!!

[growing2shine]

That doesn't matter. Hair can't be digested by the body, whether it's own hair or someone else's hair. To illustrate: there are cases of people with extreme Trichotillomania (hairpulling) who swallow their own hair (yeah I know, strange idea huh) who needed surgery because the hair couldn't be digested. So though this is a different issue, it serves to prove how tough hair is.

I've heard stuff like this about people who kept an army of cats around the house (who also slept on the bed) and inhaled too many hairs through the nose. It is possible to get problems from inhaling hair, but highly unlikely.

That reminds me of a story. It's about a five year old girl which ate some of her long hair. She later died because of the hairs had been cutting into her intestants, and causing massive internal bleeding. I think I heard it from the News...

[Tiina]

That reminds me of a story. It's about a five year old girl which eats some of her long hair. She later dies because of the hairs cuts into her intestants. I think I heard it from the News...

I do not remember where I read about it but that myth has been busted. To make the long story short - hair is not dangerous in the stomach unless it gathers into a ball of sufficient size inside the stomach. In most cases the hair is either digested or passed with the feces. If the ball forms, then hair has been eaten in very large amounts in a short period of time. The hair itself cannot cut the stomach/intestinal lining which is fairly thick precisely for the reason that something hard or sharpedged may be swallowed. The ball however can cause a blockage, in which case the food cannot pass and the instestine might rupture under pressure. This however is pretty unlikely as well, not to mention terribly painful already before the break, which can take a very long time to happen. More likely is that digested food will dislodge the hairball and it is passed in feces. Then there are people who have lived years before needing to seek help, with hairballs weighing several kilos in them. So swallowing hair is not that lethal and even if it becomes dangerous, there will be plenty of time and warnings to go to the doctor.

[lajsa]

Even if the hair was damaging to her nose and whatnot I don't think we need to worry; working as a hairdresser probably means inhaling those hair clippings every day, and I, at least, don't cut my hair that often. ;) It's like when they do x-rays; the nurse has to leave while the picture is being taken since she gets exposed to the rays every day, while the patient doesn't get any real damage from just doing an x-ray every now and then. :p

[Igor]

I wanted to quote or mention those that have pointed out issues with this story, but there were too many :lol:
But seriously, this woman has had problems with her nose for 12 years? She then scratches it, ignores it and doesn’t go to a doctor for the infected wound in her nose (And being in the UK she has no excuse not to see a doctor!)
She ignores it until it gets so bad that the infested wound breaks through the cartilage in her nose and has to undergo surgery to fix her nose when she finally realises she has a problem.
She then proceeds to blame it on the microscopic pieces of hair flowing in the air at her workplace (Which is definitely being caught and contained by the nose hairs in a normal nose) instead of the dangerous toxic fumes. She puts on a surgical mask to keep the hairs from entering her nose but doesn’t protect herself from the fumes she works in. And now she feels she needs to warn other people in the business from the dangers of tiny hair clippings? I didn’t know hair was related to asbestos?!

Hm. Should I be the first one to call this woman stupid? Oh well, at least the mask should keep her from scratching open her nose while she is at work, giving it much needed rest to heal!

:rolleyes:

[ilovelonghair]

Thanks for all the input! The first thing I was thinking was: why didn't she go to the doctor earlier!?
And as someone commented: what about nose hairs LOL. And cat hairs. I must be coughing hair balls if I inhaled that all haha.

I had a teacher in hair dressing class who came up with a really weird story that actually pissed me off a lot:
we had these fake heads with human hair to learn on, the hair was from China and the teacher said that we had to be very careful with that hair because "it was coarse and little cut off bits could go under your nails and ease their way into your skin".... Yeah right!
She was very racist so I think that had partly to do with that. I left the course due to that and filed a complaint against her.

[christine1989]

This sounds like a problem that could have been avoided by simply blowing her nose after each cut. It can't be that common of a problem right? Afterall, hair grows in noses naturally.

[DecafJane]

I agree about the comment of a coke habit. :p

You can get segments of cut hair (http://archderm.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/summary/66/4/466) that work their way into your skin between your fingers, or other areas of the body, and form pilonidal sinuses or abscesses. My hairdresser ended up with a segment of cut hair working its way into her foot in the bottom of her shoe at work, and had to have foot surgery to get it removed. It is just more common between the fingers - up the nose is really odd and unlucky.

[ilovelonghair]

That sounds scary!

[sherigayle]

I agree about the comment of a coke habit. :p

You can get segments of cut hair (http://archderm.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/summary/66/4/466) that work their way into your skin between your fingers, or other areas of the body, and form pilonidal sinuses or abscesses. My hairdresser ended up with a segment of cut hair working its way into her foot in the bottom of her shoe at work, and had to have foot surgery to get it removed. It is just more common between the fingers - up the nose is really odd and unlucky.

I get them in the bottoms of my feet from DH's hair if he doesn't clean up after he shaves his head. It feels like a splinter. I've always been able to get them out with tweezers before they are completely under the skin.

[spidermom]

I don't believe it. In all my 56 years and all the hair stylists I've known, I've never heard of anything like this before. I think she's probably trying to cash in by claiming this was occupational when it's not.

[Igor]

I think the whole thing reeks of this woman having a serious mental problem. Now really, who continuously scratches (and keeps open!) a wound for 12 years without seeing a healthcare professional for it?

:bs:

[Octave]

I don´t think we should worry.

Besides, it´s not like us LHC´ers trim all that much and all that often. This hairdresser has been cutting hair for 35 years and I take it she did it more than once a week. Most of us don´t trim for months at a time, so I don´t think that´s a fair comparison.

I agree with you. She has been exposed to cutting hair for such a long time and quite frequently, so don't think any of us would be exposed to something like this + who would not think something was seriously wrong when having a nose that itched for 12 years?!!:confused:

[growing2shine]

I do not remember where I read about it but that myth has been busted. To make the long story short - hair is not dangerous in the stomach unless it gathers into a ball of sufficient size inside the stomach. In most cases the hair is either digested or passed with the feces. If the ball forms, then hair has been eaten in very large amounts in a short period of time. The hair itself cannot cut the stomach/intestinal lining which is fairly thick precisely for the reason that something hard or sharpedged may be swallowed. The ball however can cause a blockage, in which case the food cannot pass and the instestine might rupture under pressure. This however is pretty unlikely as well, not to mention terribly painful already before the break, which can take a very long time to happen. More likely is that digested food will dislodge the hairball and it is passed in feces. Then there are people who have lived years before needing to seek help, with hairballs weighing several kilos in them. So swallowing hair is not that lethal and even if it becomes dangerous, there will be plenty of time and warnings to go to the doctor.

Thank you! :D

[ilovelonghair]

I think the whole thing reeks of this woman having a serious mental problem. Now really, who continuously scratches (and keeps open!) a wound for 12 years without seeing a healthcare professional for it?

:bs:

Good point! Maybe it wasn't 12 years at all but she just said that?

[enfys]

Well Google seems to only know about this one story it seems. That's interesting. No other cases seem to have been mentioned, no references given, no nothing.

Also how is this woman "issuing a health warning"? Surely only official bodies can do that?

I would be inclined to guess there is more to this story than we are being told by her. I would not put up with a raw, oozing, itching, irritated nose for 12 years when I could see my GP or go to A&E for free within days of it not clearing up!

This story has a little more content: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1320134/Hairdressing-caused-nose-infection-collapse-years-inhaling-clippings.html

[Forever_Sophie]

Scary, this never would have occurred to me.

As someone mentioned mythbusters - is this a legit webite, posting this article?

[rach]

:ponder: mmmmmmmmmmmm

[ilovelonghair]

I came across the Dutch version on nu.nl and of course I thought of posting it here, so I googled for an English version, that's how I got this link.

[Nae]

Well, I know that embedded hairs can cause infections. I have a co-worker who had to spend about a week in a hospital because she got a dog hair embedded in her belly button. At least that is what she said. It sounded pretty crazy to me, I told her to stop sleeping with her dog already! (Not that I care either way but if she is going to end up in the hospital.....eesh!) At any rate, she had to have surgery and everything. It wasn't good.

[luxepiggy]

Alas. Why did I click on this right after breakfast? :bigeyes:

[Aveyronnaise]

erm gross...

[Tap Dancer]

Whoa...! :eek: That's crazy! I've never heard (or even thought) of such a thing happening.

[Anje]

Nevermind being careful when trimming/dusting, maybe we need to be careful when epilating and throwing all those little hairs in the air with our RRRRRrrrrr machines! /sarcasm

Seriously, I've gotten a few hairs caught end-on in my skin, and it's not fun but it dusts out easily enough. If this were a serious hazard, it would still affect hairdressers far more than folks who trim their own due to day-in, day-out exposure, and it would probably happen often enough that this wouldn't be the first we'd heard of it happening.