A MOTHER-OF-TWO fell into a coma and died after colouring her hair every month despite suffering allergic reactions, an inquest heard today.

Julie McCabe, 39, saw doctors at Crosshills Medical Centre up to 20 times with intense scalp rashes and other symptoms between 2005 and October 2011 when she suffered a massive allergic reaction, prompting a heart attack and oxygen starvation of the brain.

Different GPs prescribed skin creams, solutions and shampoos to counteract the soreness and flaking suffered by Mrs McCabe, who lived in Cowling, near Keighley, with her husband Russell, now 47, and son Luke, 23, and daughter, Abigail, 18.

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And although the 38-year-old Bradford estate agent's allergic reaction to various hair dyes was noted on each visit, it was not logged as a medical condition along with Mrs McCabe's asthma and hayfever.

The inquest in Skipton heard Mr McCabe's account of how she collapsed with her hair still wet and full of L'Oreal Preference dye.

North Yorkshire Coroner Geoff Fell read the widower's statement of how he suddenly he heard her screaming as she rinsed out the dark brunette dye in the bathroom.

"I rushed upstairs, Julie was on her knees and said 'Russell, I'm struggling to breathe and I think I'm going to die,' Mr McCabe said in his statement.

He called an ambulance, but then decided to drive his wife to at Airedale General Hospital, which he reached in four minutes, using his left arm to keep her upright as she drifted in and out of consciousness.

"I shouted,'quick, help my wife - I think her heart has stopped beating', Mr McCabe said in his statement.

He told the inquest how Mrs McCabe started dying her hair aged 30.

'She liked to look good, she always looked beautiful,' he said.

"She would spend two hours beautifying herself, she liked to look good for work the next day.'

The inquest heard Mrs McCabe never recovered from the heart attack caused by an allergic reaction which in turn led to a coma which lasted for 13 months.

She died of acute cardio respiratory arrest due to severe anoxic brain damage at Hunters Moor Neurological Rehabilitation Centre in Birmingham on November, 30, 2012.

The inquest is considering whether paraphenylenediamine (PPD) - a chemical found in hair dyes - could have prompted such an extreme allergic reaction.

Dr Sean Emmott, representing Crosshills Medical Centre where patients see a pool of doctors, said while her reaction to hair dye was noted on many occasions, it was not listed as a dangerous medical allergy.

He said she was repeatedly prescribed betamethasone in different forms to treat the symptoms.

Dr Emmott said: "We would not necessarily record an allergy to hair dye because we do not prescribe hair dye."

When asked by Mr Fell if it was "inconceivable" that Mrs McCabe would not be advised to stop using the dark brunette hair dye, Dr Emmott agreed.

He said that Mrs McCabe allergy was "unique" among the centre's 12,500 patients and that he was unaware of the risk of hair dye causing the anaphylaxic shock which she suffered.

Dr Shuaib Nasser, an expert at Cambridge Universities Department of Allergies, stated that he believed the hair dye to be the cause of the allergic reaction, compounded by its consistent use over many years.

Doctors and experts on behalf of hair dye makers L'Oreal are due to give evidence during the inquest which is scheduled to continue until Thursday.