Analysis of Microscopic Examination of Pulled Out Hair in Telogen Effluvium Patients

January 2020 in “ Annals of Dermatology ”

So Hee Park, Jung Eun Seol, Do Hyeong Kim, Hyojin Kim

Telogen Effluvium diffuse Alopecia Areata club hair morphological evaluation pulled out hair TE AA

TLDR More atypical club hairs may indicate Telogen Effluvium.

In 2020, researchers conducted a study on 44 Telogen Effluvium (TE) patients, 7 diffuse Alopecia Areata (AA) patients, and 30 healthy volunteers to evaluate the morphological characteristics of pulled out hair. The microscopic examination revealed that 32.7% of TE patients had typical club hair, while the healthy volunteers had a higher percentage of typical club hair (62.7%). The study concluded that an increased presence of atypical club hair might be characteristic of TE. The authors suggested that morphological evaluation of pulled out hairs could be a direct method for diagnosing TE. However, they acknowledged limitations in their study, such as lack of standardization in shampooing schedule of subjects and pulling power in healthy volunteers.

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