Suicidal intoxication by the black stone in Tunisia

Abstract

Paraphenylenediamine (PPD) is frequently used by women in certain countries such as Tunisia, Morocco, India, Pakistan and Sudan to dye their hair black. Knowledge of its systemic toxicity led to use for a purpose of autolysis, but global studies including a medico-legal and toxicological investigation remain very rare. In Tunisia the sporadic cases of suicide by the ingestion of this substance were recorded in the regions of the south and the center.