A pretty teenager complained that she ended up looking like an alien after she had an allergic reaction to hair dye.

Student Luisa Kamei, 19, from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, decided to colour her hair on Friday, 16th December, ahead of her birthday party four days later.

But the next day, she realised something had gone wrong.

Luisa said her forehead felt swollen and her scalp extremely itchy on Saturday but decided not to think anything of it.

However, her symptoms worsened on Sunday.

She said: “I woke up in the morning with liquid coming out of my scalp and I woke up the next day with my face so swollen that I couldn’t open one of my eyes.

“I felt very uncomfortable and felt a lot of pressure on my head. My face got bigger. It was nerve-racking, the dye had deformed my face.”

Luisa said she had used the same dye before without hitch.

She went to the doctor’s on Monday, where she was told she had had an allergic reaction to ammonia present in the tint.

Ammonia is used in hair dyes because it opens the cuticle layer, allowing colour molecules to have deeper access into the hair.

However, dermatologist Tricia Simoes told local media: “It is important, in cases like this, to carry out allergy tests before applying dye to the whole head of hair.

“Allergies can occur with any product, at any time. Even if you have used the dye before, this does not stop you from having an allergic reaction another time.”

Tricia explained that ammonia can cause redness, itching, blisters, oedema, and swelling of the scalp, face, and eye region.

In severe cases, you can get a persistent inflammation that changes your appearance, as in Luisa’s case.

Luisa said: “I looked at myself in the mirror and all I could do was cry.

“According to the doctor, if I had taken longer to get to the hospital, the effects of the allergic reaction could have been even worse.

“I found the courage to show how I ended up to issue a warning. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.”