Women who regularly use permanent hair dye may be putting themselves at increased risk of bladder cancer.
This is one of the largest and most comprehensive studies ever conducted on the issue. Investigators analyzed 897 cases of bladder cancer where information about hair dye use was available, and compared these patients with a similar number of adults who did not use permanent hair dye.
The investigators found that women who used permanent hair dye at least once a month were twice as likely as women who did not use permanent hair dye to develop bladder cancer. They took cigarette smoking -- a known risk factor for bladder cancer -- into consideration in their calculations.
Those who reported regular use of the hair dye for at least 15 years were more than three times as likely to develop bladder cancer as non-dye users.
All of the shades use essentially the same chemicals, but there's quite a lot more of the chemicals in dark brown and black than there are in blonde.
International Journal of Cancer February 2001
Now that I do quite a bit of hair analysis tests in my office I am amazed at how many people dye their hair. One needs to know that this will increase your bladder cancer risk. So do so at your own risk. One of the ways you can screen for bladder cancer is to have a urinalysis regularly as bladder cancer does cause a microscopic bleeding which can be detected with this test.
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