White hair in alopecia areata: Clinical forms and proposed physiopathologic mechanisms.

Alopecia areata (AA) is a common form of nonscarring hair loss. It is believed to be a consequence of an immune-mediated stimulus, probably involving autoreactive T cells against antigens present in the hair follicle. The exact antigen is still unknown; however, some authors have proposed that melanogenesis-associated molecules might trigger autoimmunity. Although transient white hair regrowth is a common and well-known situation in AA, there are other types of white hair phenomena in this context, including permanent white hair regrowth, sparing of white hair in a patchy pattern, or sparing in a diffuse pattern, giving the appearance of the so-called overnight graying phenomena or canitis subita. In this review, we aim to describe the different clinical aspects of white hair in AA, as well as the proposed pathophysiologic mechanisms involved in this phenomena.

Frontal Fibrosing Alopecia Severity Index: A Trichoscopic Visual Scale That Correlates Thickness of Peripilar Casts with Severity of Inflammatory Changes at Pathology.

BACKGROUND: Frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA) is a scarring alopecia that mainly affects postmenopausal women characterized by recession of the frontotemporal hairline and eyebrow loss. Current techniques to assess FFA activity are limited and involve noninvasive tools that assess disease progression or an invasive technique such as scalp biopsies. However, since progression of FFA is very slow, it is very important to develop a noninvasive technique to assess disease activity to monitor treatment response. OBJECTIVES: To provide a standardized and objective method to assess FFA activity. METHODS: We evaluated the correlation between trichoscopy and pathological features (degree of lymphocytic infiltration) in 20 dermoscopy-guided biopsies of FFA. At trichoscopy, we divided the severity of peripilar casts into 3 grades according to their thickness. To validate the trichoscopic visual scale, we showed the images to 7 dermatologists with interest in hair diseases. Concordance was assessed using the Kendall Tau-b concordance test. RESULTS: A strong correlation between severity of peripilar casts at trichoscopy and degree of lymphocytic infiltrate was observed by the Kendall Tau-b test. Validation showed very good inter- and intraobserver agreement. CONCLUSION: The trichoscopic visual scale allows noninvasive assessment of scalp inflammation in FFA in different scalp regions and therefore provides optimal guidance for treatment.

Short anagen syndrome: Case series and literature review.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Short anagen syndrome is a hair cycle disorder usually diagnosed in early childhood and characterized by short hair length due to short duration of the anagen phase. The objective was to review the presentation and demographic characteristics of short anagen syndrome and compare them with the most common differential diagnosis, loose anagen syndrome. METHODS: A retrospective review of eight children with short anagen syndrome was performed at the University of Miami Outpatient Dermatology Clinic. RESULTS: The diagnosis of short anagen syndrome was confirmed according to clinical findings and characteristic short telogen hairs with pointed tips on the hair pull test. CONCLUSION: This is the largest reported clinical series of short anagen syndrome thus far in the literature.

Quantification of Hair Follicles in the Scalp in Mexican Mestizo Population.

INTRODUCTION: There are no reports of the density of hair follicles in the scalp of Mexican mestizo population, necessitating the determination of normal references values for this population compared with other ethnic groups. OBJECTIVE: To determine the average hair follicle count on the scalp in Mexican mestizo population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 50 scalp samples (25 men and 25 women) from Mexican mestizo individuals aged between 19 and 60 years, with no clinical evidence of hair disease, obtained by biopsy punch at General Hospital "Dr. Manuel Gea González" were collected over 2 years. The total follicular density, vellus and terminal hair follicles, and the percentage in anagen and catagen-telogen phase were measured. χ2 was used as the basic statistical test. RESULTS: The mean number of total hair follicles in our Mexican mestizo population was 23.2 ± 4.2, which is lower compared with Thais, Iranians, and Caucasians. However, the ratio of terminal and vellus hair follicles was higher than in Thais, Caucasians, and African-Americans. The percentage of terminal hairs in anagen phase was lower than in the other populations, and higher in telogen, without exceeding 15%, established as the normal reference value. There was an association between sex and terminal hairs in telogen phase (p < 0.05). The average follicular density per mm2 was slightly higher compared with African-Americans and Asians. Women had more terminal hairs than men. CONCLUSIONS: The density of total follicles is lower in the Mexican mestizo population compared with Iranians, Thais, and Caucasians. However, the greater number of terminal hairs compared to vellus hairs gives the appearance of greater overall volume. The results of this study can be used as a reference for diseases of the scalp in the Mexican population.

In vitro determination of Mexican Mestizo hair shaft diameter using optical coherence tomography.

BACKGROUND: Mexican mestizo population has a pluriethnic mixture of Amerindian, European and African ancestry, predominant in most Latin American countries. Until now, there are no reports about hair characteristics in this population, necessary to define normal values, for hair diseases evaluation and comparison among other ethnic groups. METHODS: The VivoSight® swept-source multibeam optical coherence tomography system was used to evaluate hair diameter and shape in 30 females. Three hair samples from each volunteer were measured transversely along three distances, generating nine cross-sectional images, two measurements per image and 18 measurements per patient for a total of 540 diameter measurements. RESULTS: Minimum hair diameter (n = 540) was 0.06 mm while maximum was 0.14 mm. Mean diameter was 0.10 ± 0.01 mm as compared with Asian hair, which ranges from 0.08 mm to 0.12 mm. On morphological analysis, Mexican Mestizo hair tends to have a round shape with homogenous diameters, resembling Caucasian and Asian hair. CONCLUSION: Mexican hair is similar to Asian hair in diameter and shape and can be classified as 'thick' hair, which make it more resistant and with more volume. Cosmetic products intended to improve hair care in this population must to consider this characteristic.

The Hair Shedding Visual Scale: A Quick Tool to Assess Hair Loss in Women.

INTRODUCTION: Hair shedding is a common consequence of the normal hair cycle that changes with internal and external factors. Female pattern hair loss (FPHL) is difficult to assess in terms of shedding severity as the conscious perception of hair shedding varies according to each individual, and most utilized methods are semi-invasive or very time consuming. In this study, we establish and validate a hair-shedding scale for women with thick hair of different lengths. METHODS: A visual analog scale was developed for thick hair of short, medium, and long lengths by dividing a bundle of hairs of each length into nine piles of increasing hair amount that were then photographed and arranged in order of size. Twenty women with no FPHL with each length of hair (60 total) were asked to select the photographed hair bundle that best correlated with the amount of hair they shed on an average day. A total of 94 women with FPHL with excessive shedding were then asked to repeat the same process. RESULTS: Women with no FPHL and short, medium and long hair had mean shedding scores of 2.5, 2.35 and 2.4, respectively. Women with FPHL and short, medium and long hair had mean shedding scores of 7.25, 7.0 and 7.14, respectively. Statistically significant Spearman's ρ coefficient and κ coefficient demonstrated correlation and inter-observer reliability. CONCLUSION: Our results show that women with FPHL not only shed considerable hair more than women with no FPHL, but that this hair-shedding visual scale is a fast and effective method of evaluating hair-shedding amounts in an office setting.

Conservative surgical management of in situ subungual melanoma: long-term follow-up

Abstract Subungual melanoma represents 20% of all melanomas in Hispanic population. Here, we report the outcome of 15 patients with in situ subungual melanoma treated with resection of the nail unit with a 5-mm margin without amputation, followed up for 55.93 ± 43.08 months. The most common complications included inclusion cysts and nail spicules. We found no evidence of local or distant recurrences at the last visit of our follow up. Functional outcome was good, with only one patient reporting persistent mild pain. These results support functional, non-amputative surgical management of in situ subungual melanomas.

Conservative surgical management of in situ subungual melanoma: long-term follow-up.

Subungual melanoma represents 20% of all melanomas in Hispanic population. Here, we report the outcome of 15 patients with in situ subungual melanoma treated with resection of the nail unit with a 5-mm margin without amputation, followed up for 55.93 ± 43.08 months. The most common complications included inclusion cysts and nail spicules. We found no evidence of local or distant recurrences at the last visit of our follow up. Functional outcome was good, with only one patient reporting persistent mild pain. These results support functional, non-amputative surgical management of in situ subungual melanomas.

Inmunohistochemical detection of mastocytes in tissue from patients with actinic prurigo.

BACKGROUND: Actinic prurigo (AP) is a type of photodermatosis, the pathophysiology of which has not been determined. AP has been suggested to be a hypersensitivity reaction to the presence of eosinophils and the local production of IgE. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Descriptive study, using paraffin blocks of tissue that have been diagnosed with AP from the Dermopathology department, Hospital General Dr. Manuel Gea González. In 66 blocks from 63 patients, eosinophils were identified by hematoxylin and eosin staining, and mastocytes were labeled by immunohistochemistry. Three random microphotographs (40x) were used, and cell counts were calculated as the mean count in the 3 microphotographs. RESULTS: Forty cases (63.5%) were female, and 23 (36.5%) were male. The mean age was 26.49 ±14.09 years; regarding the evolution time of the disease, the average was 11.93 years ±11.39. In 38 of 63 cases (60%), the lip, skin, and conjunctiva were affected clinically. In 22 of 63 cases (34%), AP cheilitis was the sole manifestation, and in 4 of 63 cases (6%), there were lesions in the skin and conjunctiva. The mean eosinophil count was 9 per case, the average number of mastocytes/field was 28.48 (range 0 to 66) Kruskal-Wallis p=0.001. CONCLUSIONS: There are elements in AP that mediate the reaction of hypersensitivity type IV b, necessitating the identification of triggering factors. KEY WORDS: Actinic prurigo, eosinophil, hypersensitivity IV b, IgE, mastocytes.

[Thrombotic vasculopathy probably associated with cocaine contaminated with levamisole: report of 2 cases]. / Vasculopatía trombótica por cocaína probablemente adulterada con levamisol: reporte de 2 casos.

The vasculities are complex diseases. Their cutaneous manifestations are very important and often mirror several pathologies. Cocaine use has been related to both, vasculitis and thrombotic vasculopathy and pseudovasculitis. A new syndrome has been described in association with its adulteration with levamisole. It can be very serious, leading patients to death. This is relevant as levamisole-adultered cocaine seems to be increasingly offered to consumers. Our goal is to report the first two cases in Mexico, which faces an important raise in cocaine use, emphasizing that a high suspicion based on certain characteristics allows for early recognition and adequate treatment.

Las vasculitis son enfermedades complejas con manifestaciones cutáneas importantes que pueden traducir diversas patologías. El uso de cocaína está relacionado con casos tanto de vasculitis y vasculopatía trombótica, como de pseudovasculitis. Recientemente se ha descrito una condición peculiar asociada a su forma adulterada con levamisol, la cual puede ser incluso mortal, y cuya frecuencia va en aumento. Nuestro objetivo es reportar los primeros dos casos de alta sospecha en México, que enfrenta un incremento en el consumo de cocaína, enfatizando en que ciertas características y la realización de determinados estudios permiten la identificación temprana y el tratamiento adecuado de esta condición.

Hair Breakage in Patients of African Descent: Role of Dermoscopy.

Dermoscopy represents a useful technique for the diagnosis and follow-up of hair and scalp disorders. To date, little has been published regarding dermoscopy findings of hair disorders in patients of African descent. This article illustrates how dermoscopy allows fast diagnosis of hair breakage due to intrinsic factors and chemical damage in African descent patients.