Nurse sues salon for £1million over claims hairwash triggered stroke
47-year-old launches first Scots payout fight over ‘beauty parlour syndrome’
A NURSE is suing a hair salon for £1million over claims she suffered a stroke after repeatedly having her head pulled backwards into a sink for hair washes.
Adele Burns, 47, visited a branch of Rainbow Room International in Glasgow city centre for a ‘special day of pampering’.
The five-hour appointment cost £200 and had been arranged by her husband Campbell, 52.
But less than 24 hours later the mother of two collapsed after suffering a massive stroke caused by a blood clot.
Mrs Burns said her life had since been turned ‘upside down’ and she struggles to speak, read, write or move.
She has had to quit her job as an NHS mental health nurse and can no longer drive.
Mrs Burns said: ‘A stroke isn’t like a leg break where you take time out and heal then carry on as normal. It changes your life and the lives of those around you.
‘I’ve completely lost my independence and sometimes feel like my life is no longer my own.
‘This hasn’t just left me isolated from society, I’ve been isolated from my own body.
‘With backing from my doctors, there is no doubt in my mind the salon caused the stroke.’
Her compensation battle is the first of its kind in Scotland involving so-called ‘beauty parlour syndrome’, otherwise known as vertebrobasilar insufficiency.
The condition is caused by the tearing of an artery from tilting the neck backwards, which can lead to blood clots and strokes.
Mrs Burns said her hair was washed six times after staff failed to get the colour right.
On each occasion, she claims she was pulled backwards into a sink which did not have protective padding at its edges. She said that immediately after her cut and colour appointment, in April 2016, she left with a headache but put it down to not having time to eat.
But the next day, she felt dizzy and lost her sight while cleaning her bathroom. She crawled to a phone and called her husband for help but dropped the handset part-way through the conversation and fainted.
Mr Burns rushed home and found his wife collapsed, unable to speak or move, with the righthand side of her face drooping.
An ambulance took her to St John’s Hospital in Livingston, West Lothian, where it was confirmed she had suffered a stroke following dissection of the vertebral artery – when a clot caused by neck trauma stops blood reaching the brain.
Mrs Burns, from Mid Calder, West Lothian, said she and her husband have had to sell their home since her stroke.
She added: ‘Campbell is my best friend and does everything for me nowadays. What makes it harder to stomach is that what our lives have become was avoidable. I just don’t want anyone else to experience what is happening to us.’
Mr Burns, an IT manager, said: ‘The hardest thing for me isn’t taking on domestic duties, it’s seeing her fight to keep the sparkle in her smile and eyes.’
Court papers filed by Mrs Burns’s solicitors say the repeated rewashing and re-colouring of her hair could have been avoided had staff at the salon, on Glasgow’s George Square, invited her to attend a ‘strand test’, checking her hair colour before the appointment.
The salon is also accused of negligence by failing to offer a frontfacing sink or neck protection.
The court papers add: ‘Medical reports show there is no history of stroke in Adele’s family. A CT scan confirmed the stroke was suffered following the trip to the salon.’
Jennifer Watson, from Digby Brown Solicitors, representing Mrs Burns, said: ‘Adele is incredibly brave in speaking out.
‘Strokes caused by hair washes are not unheard of. There have been a handful of similar cases across the globe but I’m not aware of anything similar having been called in Scottish courts.’
Rainbow Room International has not commented but is said to be denying responsibility. The case is due to be heard in the Court of Session at a later date.
Beauty parlour stroke syndrome was recognised 25 years ago after a study, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, found elderly people were particularly susceptible.
‘Life’s been turned upside down’