A family vacationing on the Grand Strand earlier this summer says they left with quite an impression. A mother tells NewsChannel 15 that her son got a temporary henna tattoo during their visit, one that left permanent scars.
Dusty Murphy of Ringgold, Georgia says they went to Henna Tattoo on Ocean Boulevard, near 3rd Avenue South, so her son, 13, could get the tattoo.
She insists that she asked to make sure that pure henna was used - which is a natural mixture - and not a chemical dye known as PPD, which is sometimes added to henna mixtures to make the temporary tattoo darker and last longer.
Murphy says she was assured PPD was not an ingredient, which doctors say does have a great potential to cause allergic reactions. That seems to be what happened to her son.
Murphy says doctors told her son there's a 90 percent chance the scars on her son's arm will be permanent after he had an allergic reaction to the henna mixture.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, PPD is only approved for hair dye and not direct skin contact.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control says there are no state regulations for what ingredients you can used in henna tattoos.
Dusty Murphy says the family is not looking to pursue any sort of legal action, but just wants people to know the potential side effects and the risks of henna tattoos.
NewsChannel 15 did try to talk to the owner and operator of Henna Tattoo in Myrtle Beach, but she declined to comment.
