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Bubble hair – a possible explanation for its distribution
Author(s) -
Krasnoff MD Jennifer,
Glusac MD Earl,
Bolognia MD Jean L.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
international journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.677
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1365-4632
pISSN - 0011-9059
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-4362.1998.00463.x
Subject(s) - anatomy , medicine , shampoo , scalp , hair shaft , erythema , dermatology , hair follicle , pathology , endocrinology
A 23‐year‐old white woman presented with a circumscribed area of shortened hairs along the anterior hairline. Approximately 1 month previously, the involved hairs had broken abruptly following shampooing. She used a hot air blow dryer for hair styling, but did not use electric rollers or a curling iron. Nor did she bleach, dye, or permanently wave her hair. The patient’s hair styling technique involved wrapping hairs of the frontal hairline over a round brush whilst blow drying. There was no personal or family history of alopecia or scalp infections. On physical examination, an oval‐shaped area of shortened hairs (5–6 cm in length) was noted along the anterior hairline (Fig. 1). The area of involvement measured 5×4 cm and was to the left of the midline. The texture of the affected hairs was coarser than that of the unaffected hairs, and these broken hairs were somewhat crinkled in appearance. There was no erythema, scale, or discrete areas of alopecia on the scalp. By light microscopy, the broken hairs demonstrated multiple bubbles within the hair shafts (Fig. 2). Some of the bubbles led to the distension of the hair shaft. There was no evidence of trichorrhexis nodosa.