Man wins $150,000 in compensation after suffering 'beauty parlour stroke'
A British man who suffered a stroke days after a routine haircut has been awarded $150,000 (£90,000) in compensation.
David Tyler, 45, collapsed in a business meeting two days after a salon visit. It was the result of artery damaged while his head was tilted over the basin during the wash and cut.
The official diagnoses, dubbed “beauty parlour syndrome,” is a textbook condition. Doctors believe Tyler’s corrupted artery caused his blood to clot, leading to his debilitating stroke.
Headmasters, Tyler’s local hair salon, agreed to pay him £90,000 in settlement funds after lawyers claimed that staff had failed to protect his head during the 2011 visit.
As a result the father of two spent three months in hospital, leaving with the inability to walk without a cane and permanent impairments to his vision.
This isn’t the first time “beauty parlour syndrome” has made the news this year — in March, a California woman sued her salon after suffering from a stroke.
“Several of Ms. Smith’s neurologists confirmed with her that the stroke was caused by the vertebra dissecting her artery during her hair wash,” the woman’s attorney Carree Nahama told KGTV at the time.
Doctors told the TV station that to avoid risk, people with arthritis in their neck or hardening arteries, and older people in general, should either avoid leaning back more than 15 to 20 degrees or have their hair washed face down — or skip the wash all together. But the biggest concern is regarding older shampoo sinks, some of which are not adjustable; many, though, now have reclining chairs.
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