Hair Anomalies in a 6-Year-Old Girl

January 2016 in “ Case reports in clinical medicine ”

Marlies Wruhs, C. Bergthaler, Friedrich Breier, Andreas Steiner, Paul‐Gunther Sator

alopecia monilethrix hair shaft disorder keratin genes retinoids N-acetylcysteine minoxidil Rogaine

Studysummary This article discusses monilethrix in a 6-year-old girl, explores various aspects of the disease, and its treatment, but reports no new clinical results. Our plain-language summary of this paper — not a Tressless recommendation.

A 6-year-old girl presented with increasing alopecia, characterized by short, fragile, and brittle hair, diagnosed as monilethrix, an autosomal dominant inherited hair shaft disorder. The condition, which has a family history spanning four generations, showed beaded hair under light microscopy. No treatment was initiated, but the patient was advised to avoid hair trauma. Monilethrix is caused by mutations in keratin genes and can vary widely in clinical presentation, from mild to severe cases affecting the entire body hair. There is no definitive treatment, though some hormonal influences and treatments like retinoids, N-acetylcysteine, and minoxidil have shown moderate success.

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3 / 3 results

research Monilethrix: A Rare Hereditary Condition

12 citations , January 2013 in “Indian Journal of Dermatology”

This case report on a 13-year-old boy with monilethrix observed slight improvement after a two-month trial of oral N-acetyl cysteine, but overall hair density did not improve further.

research Monilethrix Treated with Minoxidil

23 citations , January 2011 in “International Journal of Immunopathology and Pharmacology”

In this small study, topical minoxidil 2% was associated with an increase in normal hair shaft production in patients with Monilethrix without any reported side effects.

research A Missense Mutation in the Type II Hair Keratin hHb3 Is Associated with Monilethrix

79 citations , March 2005 in “Journal of Medical Genetics”

This study identified a novel heterozygous missense mutation in the hHb3 gene associated with monilethrix, highlighting its role in this hair disorder.