Lead poisoning from eye cosmetic.

Lead Poisoning among Saudi Children

“…Since the first report from Great Britain [7] of an Asian child in whom the source of lead was traced to an eye cosmetic, several reports [3,4,[10][11][12] on lead poisoning have emerged from the indigenous population of the Middle East. This is in contrast to the drastic decline in the incidence of this condition in the Western countries.…”

“…Congenital plumbism results in a low score of performance in infant developmental testing despite the presence of blood lead levels considered to be safe [6]. A second unusual form was reported from Great Britian, Mexico, the Indian Subcontinent, China, and the Middle East, where children became victim to lead poisoning through the practice of faith healers using leadcontaining home remedies for the treatment of childhood diseases [3,[7][8][9][10][11][12].…”

Study of Heavy Elements and Radioactivity Concentrations in Some Eye Cosmetics Commonly Used in Arabic Regions

“…R. M. Al-Ashban et al [6] show that the lead concentrations in imported samples available in KSA range between 0.004 to 53% (40 to 530000 ppm). Also R. M. Al-Ashban et al [6] and other earlier studies [7], [8] illustrate the reduction of hemoglobin and the increase of lead level in blood for individuals using kohl compared with those who do not use kohl. Another study [9] indicates the high level of lead in cataract lenses in comparison with clear lenses.…”

Kohl: A Lead-Hazardous Eye Makeup from the Third World to the First World

“…Medical literature for more than 20 years has included detailed case studies of patients, most frequently infants and children, presenting with plumbism that upon investigation has been attributed to surma (12)(13)(14)(15). In all of these cases, mothers or other well-meaning relatives applied surma to the children as a traditional measure to beautify and to protect the child from the "evil eye" (P. O'Gorman, G. J. Snodgrass, and M. A. Warley, personal communications).…”