TENSILE STRENGTH OF SCALP HAIR IN WOMEN WITH HAIR LOSS

BACKGROUND :Hair loss may occur due to increase in breaking of hair due to a reduction in tensile strength of hair fiber.Resistance to breakage is a function of the cortex condition affected by chemical treatments. Normally hair can stretch upto 20% of its original length before breaking if its dry and upto 50% if its wet.AIM&OBJECTIVE : To evaluate the tensile strength of scalp hair in women with alopecia.METHODS :A case control study of about 50 cases with alopecia (assessed by Ludwig scale) and 50 controls with age and sex matched subjects of above 18 years of age were included.5 – 10 samples of 15 cms hair were collected from each subject and evaluated for tensile strength of both dry and wet samples with the help of zwick/roell machine.RESULTS :This study found that tensile strength breaking point Fmax (gF) dry was statistically significantly lower in cases(82.36±24.13) compared to controls (93.66±23.08), t(98)=-2.382, p=0.02. Similarly tensile strength breaking point Fmax (gF) wet was statistically significantly lower in cases(86.10±23.38) compared to controls (94.92±16.69), t(98)=-2.171, p=0.03. In the same way our study results showed that tensile strength breaking elongation dL at Fmax(%) dry and wet didn’t show any statistical significance between the two groups(p=0.50, p=0.53 respectively).CONCLUSION:This study shows that tensile strength of hair in women with alopecia had increased breakability in both dry and wet samples when compared with controls and also statistically significant whereas elasticity of hair was not statistically significant