Comma Hairs: A New Dermoscopic Marker for Tinea Capitis

The document discusses the identification of comma hairs as a new dermoscopic marker for diagnosing tinea capitis, a fungal infection of the scalp primarily affecting children. Two cases are described where patients presented with alopecia and scalp lesions, and dermoscopy revealed comma-shaped hairs, which are indicative of hair shafts ruptured by fungal hyphae. In both cases, treatment with oral griseofulvin led to complete resolution of the condition. The paper emphasizes the utility of trichoscopy as a quick, reliable, inexpensive, and noninvasive diagnostic tool for tinea capitis, which can be difficult to diagnose clinically, especially in black children where corkscrew hairs have been proposed as another dermoscopic marker. The study suggests that trichoscopy offers better diagnostic performance than clinical inspection alone by revealing distinctive features of various hair and scalp disorders.