British man gets $150K for stroke caused by haircut

In this Feb. 27, 2015 photo, shop part-owner Wendell Patterson gets his hair cut by Mack McClellan, inside Taylor's Barber Shop, on Main Street in Marion, S.C. The barber shop recently marked its 100th anniversary of being in business. (AP Photo/The Morning News, Veasey Conway)

A British man who suffered a stroke because an artery was damaged during a routine haircut has reportedly received $150,000 in compensation from the salon.

Dave Tyler, a 45-year-old father of two, collapsed two days later during a business meeting, prompting a trip to hospital where a consultant asked him: "Have you had your hair cut recently?"

Tyler had his hair washed and cut at the Headmasters salon in his home town of Brighton, southern England, according to reports in The Times and Mail on Sunday.

Doctors believe an artery was injured when Tyler's head was bent backwards over the basin to wash his hair, causing a blood clot that led to the debilitating stroke.

He reportedly spent three months in hospital and was left only able to walk with a stick and unable to drive because of blurred vision.

The salon agreed to pay $150,000 after Tyler's lawyers claimed it had failed to adequately protect his head during the visit in 2011.

The salon referred AFP's questions about the case to the headquarters of Headmasters, a chain, but no one was immediately available for comment.

According to The Times, similar incidents have been previously recorded in medical journals, and the newspaper cited two other cases of so-called "beauty parlour syndrome".

In January 2014, mother-of-two Elizabeth Smith reportedly had a stroke after visiting a salon in San Diego, in the United States.

And in 2000, Pamela Crabb, from Poole, in southern England, also suffered a stroke believed to have been caused by a salon visit.