Ryan Briggs from Blackburn had a hair-raising experience—literally. After spotting a few grey hairs, Ryan decided to have his mom dye his hair black on July 27. Little did he know this decision would lead to a shocking transformation that left even his girlfriend unable to look at him.

The moment the dye touched his scalp, Ryan felt a fiery sensation, but he brushed it off, thinking it was just part of the process. He was 27, after all—what could go wrong? But the next morning, as he prepared for work, Ryan noticed a scaly rash creeping along his hairline. By midday, his forehead had swollen to the point where he looked like a real-life version of “Megamind.” His boss, alarmed by the sight, sent him straight home, and Ryan ended up in the hospital.

The doctors quickly diagnosed him with an allergic reaction to paraphenylenediamine (PPD), a common chemical in hair dyes. Ryan was prescribed 25 tablets a day to bring the swelling down. “I thought by the next morning it would be gone,” Ryan said, “but when I looked in the mirror, I didn’t recognize myself.”

His face had ballooned so much that only one eye was able to see clearly. His girlfriend, shocked by the drastic change, struggled to even look at him. Eventually, an ambulance rushed Ryan to the hospital, where he spent 13 hours under observation. “They didn’t give me anything to take home because they didn’t have any,” Ryan explained. “My girlfriend had to get the medication from the pharmacy because I still couldn’t see properly.”

Now that the swelling has subsided, Ryan is eager to share his story as a warning to others. The experience left him with yellow and green scabs on his scalp, but his face is finally back to normal. His advice? “Always do a patch test. It could have been so much worse—it nearly reached my neck, and if it had, I might have had trouble breathing. I’m just glad it’s over, but seriously, do a patch test—one million percent.”