Two women left with disease that thickens lungs and makes it hard to breathe – after having brows microbladed

TWO women were left with a lung disease after having their eyebrows microbladed.

They were both diagnosed with systemic sarcoidosis, an autoimmune condition which thickens the lungs and makes it harder to breathe.

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It’s the first time doctors have recorded cases of people developing the condition following this popular cosmetic treatment.

Sharing details and pictures of the unusual event in a journal, medics in Slovenia are calling on beauticians to make their clients aware of procedures’ potential health risks.

Both women, age 33, went to see their respective doctors concerned with some “orange-red plaques” in their eyebrows.

The first had her eyebrows microbladed—a semi-permanent tattooing technique that makes the brows appear thicker—one year earlier.

The second had received the same procedure six years before the marks emerged.

Skin biopsies of the affected areas revealed both women were suffering from sarcoidosis.

Chest X-rays and scans revealed the disease was also present in their lungs and lymph nodes.

What is sarcoidosis?

Sarcoidosis causes small patches of swollen tissue, called granulomas, to develop in parts of the body.

In some cases, it is limited to just the skin – this is called cutaneous sarcoidosis.

But in most people, the disease spreads to the lungs and lymph nodes, called systemic sarcoidosis.

It can also affect other parts of the body, including the brain kidneys and heart – which can be fatal.

The cause of sarcoidosis is unknown, but some experts think it can be triggered by exposure to certain irritants, most commonly mould and pesticides.

There is some evidence to suggest certain people may be more genetically predisposed to develop the condition.

When this happens, the body’s immune system goes into overdrive and starts to attack itself.

There is currently no cure but symptoms can usually be managed with medicine, the NHS says.

Writing in the Journal of Medical Case report, doctors said “microblading probably triggered the development of sarcoidosis in both patients” in these two cases.

With one woman being a cashier and the other a nurse, it was “unlikely” they were exposed to irritants in other ways, they added.

The doctors said the ink used for the treatments could trigger the disease “in susceptible individuals when a certain threshold for accumulating a foreign substance (ink) is reached”.

Treatments

The first woman was treated with steroids for two years, during which time the skin lesions cleared and lung growths “regressed”.

The second was also treated with a steroid and saw similar improvements within the first year of treatment.

The authors called on doctors and beauticians who offer these treatments to make clients aware link between microblanding and sarcoidosis.

“Prior to such procedures, patients should be adequately informed of this risk despite its rarity,” they said.