Do I need to have a patch test done before my beauty treatment?
Before any beauty treatment including the use of dye or other harmful chemicals, a patch test should be done on the customer at least 48 hours before the time of the treatment. This is a legal requirement under Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act. This is the case regardless of whether or not you have used dye or tint in the past, and stands for standard hair dye, toner, brow tint, and many more.
If you have obtained burns or other injuries as a result of a hairdresser or beautician failing to perform a patch test prior to the treatment, then you could have a claim. Get in touch with our expert personal injury solicitors at MG Legal here, and we can help you to get your claim started.
MG Legal’s expert personal injury solicitors have a success rate in excess of 99%, and settle many thousands of personal injury claims every year. Click below to learn more about our team, and why they are the right solicitors for you.
What sort of injuries can you get from not doing a patch test?
Patch tests are legal requirements for any hair or beauty treatment that involved dye or tint of any kind. This includes standard hair dye, balyage, toner, eyelash and eyebrow tint, and many more. When making a personal injury claim against a hairdresser or beautician who has failed to do this, the amount that you will be able to claim for depends on the type of injury that you have obtained, and how serious this injury is.
The most common examples of injuries that can be obtained as a result of failure to conduct a patch test are:-
1. damage or burns to the scalp, including contact dermatitis
2. loss of hair
3. Itching skin accompanied by a nettle rash
4. Allergic reactions- more serious allergic reactions can occur in some people. This can result in anaphylaxis, or "anaphylactic shock", and can be accompanied by a large number of symptoms. This can be a medical emergency.
How much could I be entitiled to for my claim?
If you are reading this you may be wondering, how much is my claim worth against a beautician who didn't offer me a patch test? As with all personal injury claims, the amount that you may be entitiled to depends largely on the injuries that you have sustained, and the severity of them.
It is also important to remember that the figures shared below are for 'general damages' only, which essentially means the injury itself. You could be entitled to much more than this, based on things such as your future loss of earnings and compensation for care and assistance.
As stated in the 15th edition of the Judicial College guidelines, it is very difficult to offer guidance as to how much can be claimed for in cases involving burns and scarring. Still, some estimated guidance that they offer for different injuries is:-
Skin conditions such as dermatitis/eczema/burning- These claims vary hugely based off of the severity of the damage to the scalp, but can bring in claims of around £6,890 up to £10,340.
Hair loss- this will depend on the amount of time for full regrowth, but our personal injury specialists have seen amounts of £3,710 to £6,890 awarded.
I think that I have been injured as a result of a failure to conduct a patch test. How can I start my claim?
If you have been injured, had an allergic reaction, or suffered burns as a result of a hairdresser or beautician's negligent failure to conduct a patch test before a treatment, get in touch with our expert personal injury solicitors here at MG Legal today. Our specalised solicitors have worked with many clients over the years who have not been offered patch tests before their beauty treatments, and have won large amounts of compensation on their behalf. Our experts have over 30 years of experience in the field, and know how important these decisions can impact your life.
Because we are so confident in the abilities and success of our team, we accept all of our personal injury claims on a No Win No Fee basis, or a Conditional Fee Agreement. This means that if we were to not win the claim for our client, they would not owe us any money and we would not be paid for the work.
Failure to offer a patch test case study:
Suffering injuries as a result of a beauty treatment by a professional who you trusted to carry out a procedure can be awful. It can be made even more frustrating when the beautician involved has failed to carry out a patch test, as they are legally required to do, or to present you with a consent form warning you of any potential risks or side effects.
Our No Win No Fee personal injury clients recently settled a matter where our client, Mrs H, suffered swelling after having a henna dye treatment done on her eyebrows, where she was not offered a patch test. After attending A&E, she was informed that she had suffered chemical burns, and subsequent infection, as a result of an allergic reaction to the dye used in the treatment. After she got in contact with MG Legal, our expert personal injury solicitors quickly contacted the beautician at hand, and informed her of our plans to act on behalf of Mrs H. As said beautician was uninsured, the claim was levied against her personally, and any damages would have to be personally paid by her. Our expert solicitors then instructed a highly-regarded medical consultant dermatologist, who declared that the failure to carry out a patch test was negligent, and was the cause of Mrs H’s injuries.
After obtaining this report, our personal injury solicitors got in contact with an specialised personal injury barrister on behalf of Mrs H, who used existing case law to advise as to the financial amount that the claim for her injuries could expect to achieve in court, if won.
After the claim went to court, we are happy to say that we won the case on behalf of Mrs H, and our client received £7000 in general damages, which was the upper-most amount of the advised range of financial compensation as given by our expert personal injury barrister.