UK girl scarred by temporary black henna butterfly tattoo while on holiday in Turkey

Kirsty Newton, 37, let her daughter Matilda get the temporary ink while on a family holiday at an all-inclusive hotel in Turkey last month. Matilda chose a beautiful, 3cm-tall butterfly design, which the artist sketched onto her right forearm.

At first, Matilda was ecstatic about her new ink. But, when the family-of-four returned home to England, the butterfly print became red and itchy.

Ms Newton took two trips to the chemist to get help, to no avail. When the raised burn began to crack and bleed, she rushed Matilda to the hospital.

Doctors confirmed Matilda was having an allergic reaction to paraphenylenediamine (PPD), a chemical commonly found in dark hair dyes. Unlike natural henna, which tends to be brown or mahogany in colour, black henna is tinted with PPD.

Matilda was prescribed anti-allergy tablets, steroids and antibiotic creams, but her mum fears the medication will never fully heal Matilda’s scorched skin.

“I‘m worried that it’s going to scar for life. It’s awful and concerning, especially if it scars. It worries me that it’s a very visible place on her arm,” Ms Newton said.

“The hospital said it was an allergic reaction to the black henna used and she won’t be able to use hair dye when she’s older. We weren’t informed it was black henna, the tattoo stand just advertised henna tattoos.”

After the incident, Ms Newton posted photos of Matilda’s butterfly burn to social media, warning other parents about the dangers of black henna.

She claimed the hotel did not offer a skin test prior to painting on the design.

“Please be cautious when letting your children get henna tattoos,” Ms Newton said.

“I want to raise awareness of what happened as lots of children at the hotel getting henna done.

“People need to know what happened and make sure they have skin tests done … before having one of these done. Matilda should have had a skin test done before, but this wasn’t offered.”