Acute renal failure after use of diesel fuel as shampoo.

After washing his hair with diesel fuel a 28-year-old patient developed acute renal failure (ARF) and oliguria requiring hemodialysis. The patient recuperated completely. In the absence of other causal factors, we believe that the absorption of the diesel fuel components, either through the respiratory tract or through the skin can be considered to be the cause of the ARF. In spite of the extended everyday use of petroleum distillation products, cases of acute intoxication are infrequent. Even rarer are cases in which these products occasion ARF.