Skin Hazards During Holi Festival

Holi the festival of colors is a celebrated in India with a lot of zest and zeal. Playing holi can be real fun, but not for all. The colors and chemicals with which holi is played nowadays generates lots of concern by the medical fraternity since the after festival phase marks the rise of patients in the dermatology clinics seeking treatment of acute and delayed effects seen on the skin, hair ,eyes etc due to harmful effects of the colors used.

Holi is played by dry as well as wet colors. The colors used during the Holi come in different forms including pastes, dry colored powders, and watercolors. Colors are often thrown at people with the help of long syringes called pichkaris or balloons filled with watercolors, or simply smeared on the face and body.

• Go off smoking, nicotine never made anyone look younger! Smoking is the largest contributing factor to ageing and needs to be addressed to when it exhibits signs of sun damage or acne prone skin behavior, or a problematic skin which does not seem to improve and are resistant to standard therapy.
• Healthy potion of fruits and vegetables in diet boosts up antioxidants available to the system thus preventing free radical damage and ageing.

The risk with synthetic and industrial dyes sometimes mixed with engine oils is irritation or allergies to the skin, hair, nails.

Besides skin and eye issues, they can cause temporary blindness, renal failure, skin cancer, and can even be fatal if ingested in large enough quantities. And with the colors all over people's bodies, this posed a significant problem and health risk.

Starts almost shortly after contact to color and person experiences itching, burning, the skin can even turn red, but the redness is always masked by the presence of the color on the surface. Mica dust when used in dry powders can cause abrasions on the facial skin.

Due to previous sensitization as well as prolonged contact often of multiple colors on the surface a itching, irritation and skin rash can erupt after a few days of exposure to the color. Often within 7 days of contact, but delayed allergies can generate as late as a month. The skin sometimes can break down to raw and an oozing state and is predisposed to infections.

Open areas especially the face is the commonest, followed by neck, hands, arms trunk and legs. Often nails show persistent tinting of the holi color.

A significant number of people experience exacerbation of pre-existing dermatoses like acne vulgaris, eczema, and paronychia and dandruff. Associated eye involvements are seen in the form of redness, watering, and grittiness.

Hair often gets affected and undergoes weathering effects due to exposure to harmful chemicals, frizziness, breakage, dryness; rough unmanageable hair is often experienced. persistence of color in the hair as a red or pink green or blue tint which the person vigorously tries to remove by usage of hot water and repeated shampooing resulting in further damage.

• If you have a past history of reacting to holi colors you should best stay away from it, with certain dyes exposure can result in a more severe allergic reaction to the skin and gets worst with each re-exposure.
• People with preexisting skin conditions like psoriasis, eczema, atopic dermatitis or extremely dry and sensitive skin are more prone to develop allergy to synthetic holi colors.
• Problems on skin are seen not only due to the color but also to the overzealous attempt to remove the color afterwards.
• After applying the color, if one starts getting some kind of allergy, one should immediately rinse it with plain water
• Chemical colors, particularly permanent ones, oxidized metals and industrial dyes are best avoided. Colors, such as silver and shiny green or bright gold, are chemical-based; they should not be used.
• Keep your eyes closed to avoid the color from going into your eyes.
• Children should be supervised while playing holi, a child skin is thinner and more sensitive than adult skin and has more potential for developing an allergy to the dyes
• Clothes chosen while playing holi should be preferably thick cotton garments which hampers color penetration to the skin. Cover as much of skin as possible. Usage of moisturizers, barrier creams and broad spectrum sunblock creams with a physical filer helps to prevent contact allergies. unblocks are helpful as certain colors have increased reactivity in presence of UV rays.Thees should be applied in an adequate thick film over exposed parts of body like face, arms, ears, neck, upper back and legs
• Lips with lip balms and nails can be covered with a thick nail lacquer for protection
• For very dry hair it is worthwhile to oil the hair before playing holi as oil coats the hair to form a protective film from the harmful chemical effects.

• First dust off all dry power if any
• Rinse off all color in a shower or running water
• Bathe with neutral pH soap and luke warm water and moisturize the skin thoroughly after bath
• Do not try to vigorously scrub off the color as it can break down the protective skin barrier. Do not use spirit or acetone or kerosene to take off stubborn color or tint as this are strong irritants
• Hair should be washed with a shampoo followed by thorough conditioning. Leave in conditioners are preferred.
• To prevent dryness and frizz light hair oil can be applied and this can be continued for next few days. Hair dryers are best avoided.
• Consult a dermatologist in case of excessive irritation to the skin

THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE REFLECTS THE VIEWS OF THE AUTHOR ONLY. A QUALIFIED HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL SHOULD BE CONSULTED BEFORE USING ANY THERAPEUTIC PRODUCT DISCUSSED. ALL READERS SHOULD VERIFY ALL INFORMATION AND DATA BEFORE TREATING PATIENTS OR UTILIZING ANY THERAPIES NOTED IN THIS PROGRAMME.