JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Many women love the luxury of getting their hair done, including Cheryl Taylor. She’s been getting her hair done by the same hairdresser for years. But, she said she’ll never forget what happened during a recent trip.
“When I was leaning back in the chair to get my hair washed and rinsed, I felt dizzy.” Cheryl Taylor said. “I never had any problems. But this time, it was different.”
Taylor’s hairdresser immediately sat her up and called Taylor’s husband.
“I told my husband I’m just going to go home.” Taylor said. “I’ll just lay down and sleep and I’ll be fine.” But, then she started feeling nauseous and dizzy. “My daughter who is there insisted that I go to the hospital. I kept saying, no I’ll be fine just take me home I’ll be fine."
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Taylor’s daughter was finally able to convince her to go to Baptist Medical Center’s emergency room. Taylor said she still didn’t feel like anything was wrong. It wasn’t until clinical staff uttered two words, that it finally clicked.
“When they mentioned the word stroke that really scared me a lot.” Taylor said. The stroke was caused by leaning her head back into the sink, putting stress on her neck.
“That phenomenon is called beauty parlor syndrome." Dr. Nima Aghaebrahim said. He is an interventional neurologist at Baptist Health and treated Taylor.
Despite the name, beauty parlor syndrome can happen during several normal activities, like stretching or even sneezing. The proper medical term is vertebral artery dissection.
“Not really a syndrome associated with going to a hair salon.” Aghaebrahim said. “It’s more the fact that if you hyperextend your neck that can lead to a tear in the artery that can cause a stroke.”
Aghaebrahim said 2% of strokes are caused from this kind of neck extension. There’s not a lot to prevent it from happening.
But don’t cancel your beauty appointment just yet.
“The only thing that we can do is to avoid any extreme neck movements that could be sudden.” Aghaebrahim said. “However, the other thing that we can do is be aware.”
As for Taylor, she is doing OK. She also still sees the same hairdresser.
"It is something that I hope nobody avoids doing by thinking that it’s going to happen to them, but to be aware.” Taylor said “You have to pay attention more. Take all your symptoms seriously.”
Here are the symptoms you need to pay attention to: dizziness combined with nausea, the inability to speak, weakness on one side of the body or imbalance. Call 911 and get to a hospital right away if you experience any of these symptoms.
The quicker a doctor can treat you, the sooner they can prevent permanent damage.
We reached out to two beauty schools in Jacksonville who say they discuss the syndrome in the classroom. Many salons now use a pad or towel under a client’s neck for more support.
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