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Woman Suffers Stroke After Getting Hair Shampooed At Salon

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A woman said getting her hair shampooed at a hair salon nearly killed her.

Elizabeth Smith, 48, said almost two weeks after visiting a salon in San Diego, doctors told her she suffered a stroke. She said doctors determined it was the position of her head in a wash basin that probably caused a blood clot, leading to stroke.

"Initially, I couldn't walk at all. It hit both sides of my body but more my left. I couldn't move my left arm at all," Smith said. "It was just utter disbelief. How could that happen to me?"

It turns out this rare condition has name: beauty parlor stroke syndrome.

Neurologist Clifford Segil of Providence St. John's Health Center said it's rare but can happen when necks are hyperextended. "When a patient is leaning their head back, you could possibly tear or irritate these posterior circulation or have these kind of strokes."

Doctors recommend using towels to prop up your head so it's tilted no more than 20 degrees or flip your hair over facing down.

Two years after her stroke, the single mother said she still has dizziness and vision loss, so much so she fell just a couple of days ago, leaving her with a black eye.

But worst of all, doctors said, if she suffers a second stroke, she could die.

She is now suing the salon and warns others to be careful.

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