This is a question many clients ask their stylists and so we wanted to delve into the implications of wearing hair extensions when having an MRI scan.
We thought what better way for us to to find out than to ask…
So when we heard that one of our amazing clients was about to set off to Kings Hospital for her MRI scan we armed her with a list of questions which the lovely MRI technicians were more than happy to answer.
They explained that MRI stands for Magnetic resonance imaging.
An MRI uses a magnetic field and pulses of radio wave energy to create pictures of organs and structures inside the body.
In cases where MRI scans are centred around the head the magnetic force from the MRI scan could potentially drag hair extensions which have been installed using metal connections.
So depending upon the type of hair extensions and what the connections are made of determines as to whether they will need to be removed prior to your MRI scan or not.
Our client had Angelslocks individual I tip hair extensions which were secured using tiny copper attachments. The attachments were powder coated in a light brown shade to match her root colour.
The technicians at Kings hospital explained “Copper is not magnetic but most metals become ‘ferromagnetic’ when exposed to high magnetism such as with an MRI scanner and this is the reason why wearing hair extensions with metal attachments could potentially cause an issue.”
This is why hair extensions using metal connections such as weaves, micro rings or nano rings may need to be removed before your MRI scan but tape in and bonded hair extensions will usually be ok to leave in.
It may not be possible to carry out the MRI scan with hair extensions with metal connections and this is because of the magnetic force as it could potentially pull the attachments from the hair and cause pain and damage.
Also the metal can heat up and burn the head or the hair or cause scalp irritations.
Another concern is that when they scan the brain, the metal attachments on your hair extensions could literally light up like a Christmas tree, and therefore may restrict visibility to the brain.
The questions we asked were specific to all hair extensions methods and the answers were helpful as they explained how the scan was carried out and why patients with hair extensions may be asked to remove them and why others may not.
The technicians said that when they examined our locks they were confident that the MRI scan wouldn’t drag the extensions out by magnetic force as they were made from powder coated copper.
Also because the attachments were very small they were not concerned they could heat up and burn the head or the hair.
For these reasons they were able to carry out the scan without the need to remove the hair extensions with no issues and the extensions did not restrict the visibility and the brain could be seen properly.
It was also possible to do the MRI scan because there were not too many hair extensions in the head.
Letting your MRI technicians know in advance that you have hair extensions and which type is key as now so many patients do have hair extensions so they are often able to advise accordingly.
Our client attended the scan knowing that they were happy for her to leave them in as we had discussed everything prior to her appointment including the fact that we wanted to provide this information to other patients also.
As a precaution they firstly ran a test scan to check the magnetic pull and to see whether they heated up.
Once they were happy that the hair extensions would not effect the MRI scan they were happy to carry out the scan.
After the scan they reported back that the Angelslocks tiny tip hair extensions hadn’t caused any distortion to the brain photos. In fact they said that they were “barely perceptible.”
The key thing is to discuss this with your hospital before hand and explain everything and see what they say so if you do need to remove your hair extensions you know before hand.
Things have come a long way in recent years and with hair extensions being so popular, now the hospital technicians are well used to dealing with them.
Where years ago everyone would be told to remove as standard now as long as the technicians are happy, it may be possible to do the MRI scan without the need to remove your hair extensions so it’s always worth asking prior to your appointment.
