TY - JOUR T1 - Henna tattooing dermatitis: consider an additive as the culprit JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 794 LP - 795 VL - 56 IS - 531 AU - Jacob Urkin Y1 - 2006/10/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/56/531/794.abstract N2 - The use of henna tattooing has become popular beyond its traditional boundaries. Many of the reported cases of henna tattooing dermatitis involve European tourists who visited the Middle-East or people with fair skin who had paint-on tattoos done by street or beach artists.Henna is made of the ground leaves of Lawsonia unermis or alba (family Lythraceae), mixed with water or oil. The active ingredient is lawsone, a naphthoquinone. It takes a few hours from the time that the henna is applied to the skin until the brownish-red colour is well established. Various substances, such as lemon oil, vinegar, eucalyptus oil and coffee, are added to obtain different colouring effects.1 Para-phenylenediamine (PPD), which is commercially used in hair colouring, is commonly added to henna preparations to obtain a darker shade — ‘black henna’ and to shorten the fixation time of the colour to the skin.2 Allergic skin reaction to the natural henna is rare, however, severe allergic skin reaction is commonly described in cases where henna is mixed with PPD.1–5A 6-year-old boy was checked … ER -