Bromate intoxication: hairdressers' anuria.

A 17-year-old hairdresser developed sodium bromate poisoning after drinking a cup of hair neutralizer in a suicide attempt. She presented 1 week later with anuria, required hemodialysis for 5 days, and subsequently recovered. Sensorineural hearing loss, often a characteristic finding, was absent. Early diagnosis of bromate intoxication requires an appreciation that it commonly occurs in hairdressers, may be accompanied by deafness, and may present with insidious anuria.