Boy, 13, left with 'weeping' chemical burns after getting black henna dragon

27 December 2023 , 18:55

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Tyler Skee, 13, had a reaction to a henna tattoo and was left with a weeping wound and rash (Image: Kennedy News and Media)

A mum claims her autistic son's holiday black henna dragon left him with 'weeping' chemical burns - but he hid the agonising wound from her as he'd 'heard tattoos were supposed to hurt'.

Chloe Skee found out the henna had been 'burning' her 13-year-old son's arm six days after returning home from a £2,400 trip to Cyprus, which resulted in a 'nightmare' for her family. The 34-year-old let teenage Tyler Skee and his sister Brooke Skee, 10, get the 15 Euro black henna tattoos on their last day at a shop after it was recommended by a local.

However, six days later that the mum-of-two discovered her son had developed an allergic reaction to the product, resulting in a 20cm-long 'weeping' wound and a rash over his 'whole body'. Despite the pain he was in, poor Tyler - who has autism - had put up with it in the belief that tattoos were supposed to hurt - and as his pain threshold is 'really high', according to his mum.

Tyler didn't tell his mum for six days he was in pain (Kennedy News and Media)

Shocking pictures show Tyler's red, scabbing and blistering wound covering his entire forearm, from his hand to his elbow, in the shape of a dragon. The full-time mum says doctors believe the reaction was caused by paraphenylenediamine (PPD), a chemical commonly found in black henna, which is banned for use in skin products by the European Union.

Chloe posted the ordeal to Facebook, where she warned others of the product and said she feared her son was going to be left with a permanent scar. Chloe, from Gateshead in Tyne and Wear, said: "If I knew then what I know now he would never have been able to get a henna tattoo.

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"Obviously I've done my research now, and I know that the chemical PPD is illegal to be used in the EU for the likes of henna tattoos. Everybody who I see, especially friends who have just had young babies, I say if you ever go on holiday, don't let them get a henna tattoo.

The teenager developed a rash all over his body (Kennedy News and Media)

Tyler's red, scabbing and blistering wound covering his entire forearm (Kennedy News and Media)

"I would never do it again and warn other parents not to. He had it on for a whole week before he actually said anything to us. Tyler is autistic. Tyler has a really high pain threshold and takes things very literally. All the while, it had been burning Tyler's arm but because he's very literal and it's a tattoo and I've got proper permanent tattoos, he knows that they do hurt.

"In his mind, he must have thought that was normal so he never said anything to us. It wasn't until the Sunday [October 29] at my gran's for dinner and he said 'Mam, is this supposed to still be burning?' It's a nightmare Tyler's been through, bless him. He's had to be off school and everything.

"He's had loads of time off for numerous GP appointments. I've had to go into school and put creams on and take medications in when he has been there." After several GP appointments and courses of antibiotics, Chloe says Tyler's wounds were weeping and sticking to his clothes.

Doctors believe the reaction was caused by paraphenylenediamine (Kennedy News and Media)

Chloe says he then came out in a full-body rash, which doctors say was due to an autoimmune response to the infection, where his body started to attack itself. Tyler was recently seen by a burns unit, where Chloe says he was seen by 14 medical professionals who didn't know how to treat him before he was given more steroid creams and antiviral medicine.

Chloe said: "It's still not fully healed. [A plastic surgeon] said it's gone past the point of it being a chemical burn. It's now contact dermatitis because of the reaction his body has had. Tyler's been an absolute little trooper, he's never once complained of being in pain. The only thing he's complained of is being itchy, and that was more his body.

"He's got a few other [medical] tests going on, and with the whole thing with his arm on top of that, a few weeks ago he just broke down in tears, which isn't Tyler because he doesn't really show his emotions. It was absolutely heartbreaking. I could have stood there and cried with him but I didn't want to do that because I wanted to be strong for him.

"It's been horrible for his little sister as well because she's got ADHD so she worries a lot. At one point when it was really bad she had got it into her head that he was going to have his arm chopped off. She's been an absolute mess as well. It is actually looking a lot better now and the dermatologist thinks it won't scar. I'm still not convinced because his skin is healing and there are certain places where it still looks white." Chloe says she has reached out to the tattoo shop to alert them of the situation but is yet to receive a response.

Bethan Finighan