Circumscribed Alopecia: An Unusual Manifestation of Head Lice Infestation
October 2011
in “
Pediatric dermatology
”
TLDR Head lice can cause unusual patchy hair loss.
In 2011, a case study reported a 10-year-old girl who presented with patchy hair loss on her scalp for over six months, which began about one month after being treated for head lice. Upon examination, discrete ovoid patches of hair loss were observed at the vertex of her scalp. Microscopic examination of a scalp scrape revealed a nit, suggesting that the focal hair loss was an atypical manifestation of ongoing pediculosis capitis, commonly known as head lice infestation.