Film and TV actor Srimal Wedisingha is suffering as a result of some air cream applied on his hair becoming allergic when he was acting in the film Dr. Navariyan of Ranjan Ramanayaka and during shooting.
He expressed his ideas about the situation which was caused by the allergy.
"I portray the role of a professor in the film Navariyan. For this role, the hair on my head had to be completely dyed in white colour. The make-up artiste had brought a hair application from America which he applied on my head. It was only later that we came to know that this cream or ointment has to be washed away after a duration of 4 hours; if not, it would create a reaction on the skin, wherever it is applied. For purposes of shooting, this was left applied like that for about 14 hours.
It was only later that I realised the difference. It started to scratch severely and a rash began to appear. This problem had occured because the chemical had been absorbed by the skin of the skull together with the sweat and had leaked into the bloodstream through the cells of the skin. I took normal treatment. It showed no signs of a cure. Now I am taking medicine under specialist advice. I am taking treatment from Professor Anura Weerasingha today (Dec 10). A special examination will be done in order to decide on the treatment in the future. It has been the opinion of the of the doctors that if no cure is noted from this treatment, a fresh blood transfusion has to be given after preliminary procedures.
This whole situation took place not because of a mistake of the make-up artiste. The mistake was the period how long the cream had been left unwashed after application. The maximum period to remain the said dye was 4 hours whereas I had stayed from morning till evening, 3 or 4 days at a stretch. I had shooting for a period of 15 - 20 days. Now it is I who has to face all this suffering. This is an occupational hazard of actors and actresses in Sri Lanka.