Pay attention to how you are extending your neck during hair wash to prevent stroke risk
Hyderabad-based neurologist Dr Sudhir Kumar told that in 10-20 per cent people, one side of the artery may be thin which can lead to stroke when the other (thick-side’s artery) is kinked or gets compressed with any kind of hyperextension of the neck.
Recently, a neurologist from Hyderabad treated a 50-year-old woman showing symptoms of ‘Beauty Parlour Stroke Syndrome’. According to Dr Sudhir Kumar, the woman presented with symptoms of dizziness, nausea, and vomiting, which started while she was getting her “hair washed with shampoo in a beauty parlour“.
The woman was “initially taken to a gastroenterologist, who treated her symptomatically”. Sharing his case on Twitter, the expert elaborated that as the symptoms did not improve, “the next day she developed mild imbalance while walking“.
Vertebral hypoplasia due to parlour stroke
“She was then referred for my opinion. She had mild right cerebellar signs. MRI brain revealed an infarct in the right posterior inferior cerebellar territory, MR angiogram showed left vertebral hypoplasia. A diagnosis of beauty parlour stroke syndrome involving right PICA (Posterior inferior cerebellar artery) infarct territory was made. A possible mechanism is kinking of the vertebral artery during hyperextension and turning of the neck towards wash basin while washing hair with shampoo. She had well-controlled hypertension too,” the doctor added.
According to Dr Kumar’s observation, the take-home message is that stroke affecting vertebrobasilar artery territory can occur during “shampoo hair-wash in a beauty parlour, especially in women with other atherosclerotic risk factors and undetected vertebral hypoplasia. Prompt recognition and treatment can prevent disability”.
In a simple word, a woman with vertebral hypoplasia (an abnormality in the vertebral arteries) got a stroke in the PICA area, which is the artery that supplies blood to the cerebellum and the brainstem. In an exclusive interaction, Dr Kumar told that in 10-20 per cent people, one side of the artery may be thin which can lead to stroke when the other thick side’s artery is kinked or gets compressed with any kind of hyperextension of the neck.
“In this particular case, the woman’s left side artery was thin. So, when her neck was tilted slightly to the right, it got kinked or compressed with the hyperextension which led to a stroke,” said Dr Kumar, “who has seen two more severe cases and has seen more than 12 cases with milder symptoms”.
