Hair manifestations of endocrine diseases: A brief review

Hair disorders are common in clinical practice and depending upon social and ethnic norms, it can cause significant psychosocial distress. Hair growth, cycling and density are regulated by many endogenous factors, mainly circulating hormones. Thus, diseases affecting the endocrine system can cause varied changes in physiological hair growth and cycling. Diagnosis and treatment of these disorders require a multidisciplinary approach involving a dermatologist, gynecologist and an endocrinologist. In this review, we briefly discuss the influence of hormones on the hair cycle and hair changes in various endocrine disorders.

Childhood pemphigus vulgaris successfully treated with rituximab.

Pemphigus is a potentially fatal autoimmune epidermal bullous disorder. Rituximab is a novel therapy for the treatment of refractory pemphigus. However, there is limited clinical data on safety and efficacy of rituximab in pediatric age group. Herein, we report an 11-year-old boy of childhood pemphigus vulgaris who failed to respond to dexamethasone pulse therapy and was subsequently treated with rituximab and achieved complete remission.