Background: Interleukin-15 (IL-15) is a cytokine that is involved in many inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Although alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune disease, serum levels of IL-15 have not been studied well in AA patients. Aim of the Work: We aims at evaluating the serum levels of IL-15 in active AA. Subject and Methods: This case-control study included 40 AA patients and 40 apparently healthy matched controls. Written informed consents were obtained from all the participants. The scalp was examined to assess sites, number, and size of alopecia patches, and the severity of AA lesions was assessed using the Severity of Alopecia Tool score (SALT score) which determine the percentage of hair loss in the scalp. The body was carefully examined to detect any alopecia patches in any hairy area. Nail examination was carried out to detect any nail involvement. Serum IL-15 levels were measured using an ELISA kits. Results: Serum levels of IL-15 in patients were significantly higher than those in the control group (P < 0.001). Serum levels in alopecia totalis were significantly higher than those with one or two patches, and serum levels in patients with both scalp and body involvement were significantly elevated than the levels of patients with either scalp or body involvement. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between SALT score and serum levels of IL-15 (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Serum IL-15 may be a marker of AA severity.

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Introduction: Hair casts have been reported in a variety of hair and scalp disorders. Trichoscopy allows a quick and noninvasive method for the evaluation of hair and scalp disorders in high magnification. However, the study of hair casts seen in trichoscopy is lacking. Objective: The main objective is to study the occurrence and patterns of tubular hair cast (THC) in different hair and scalp disorders. Patients and Methods: The patients with hair and scalp disorders presenting at the dermatology department of our hospital were evaluated using trichoscopy. Cases of primary parakeratotic disorders and behavioral disorders were excluded. After a detailed history and evaluation of the hair and scalp, histopathology, light microscopic examination, potassium hydroxide examination, and fungal culture were done when necessary. Results: THC was seen in total 21 cases of seven different hair and scalp disorders. Of these, the majority of cases were of discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) (5/21) and maximum frequency of THCs within a disorder was seen in cases of pemphigus foliaceus (PF) (50%). Proximal casts occurred in 90.47% of cases. Single cast involving two shafts was seen in a case of PF, and two casts within a single shaft were seen in two cases of DLE and one case of alopecia areata. Conclusions: THCs in trichoscopy can be seen in various hair and scalp disorders and their study may help during the diagnosis of those disorders when combined with other trichoscopic features.

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Backgrounds: Telogen effluvium (TE) is the most common reason for hair loss in humans. Although the exact etiopathogenesis of TE has not been revealed clearly and completely, multifactorial etiologies are to be blamed. In recent years, since oxidative stress (OS) has been shown to play an important role in the etiopathogenesis of so many diseases, the effects of OS on several skin diseases are researched and analyzed. Thiols are antioxidant components that include sulfur group, and the balance of thiol-disulfide has an important role in the formation and prevention of OS. This balance is destroyed in many diseases and its effect on TE is not clearly understood yet. Objectives: In this study, we aimed to search the thiol–disulfide balance that could reveal OS in patients with TE. Materials and Methods: Fifty-two patients with TE and control group of 46 persons were included in the study. Native thiol, disulfide, and total thiol levels were evaluated by a new, automatic spectrophotometric method. Disulfide/native thiol, disulfide/total thiol, and native thiol/total thiol rates were calculated. Results: There was no statistical difference between TE patients and control group in terms of native thiol, disulfide, and total thiol levels. Thiol–disulfide balance was fixed and not affected in TE patients.

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We report a case of trigeminal trophic syndrome (TTS) on the scalp of a 69-year-old woman. Initially, the diagnosis of pityriasis amiantacea was considered. The review of pathological antecedents and knowledge of TTS were fundamental for the diagnosis of this illness. We performed a brief review on TTS and differential diagnoses.

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Woolly hair nevus is a rare non hereditary disorder of scalp characterized by curling and kinking of hair. It can present in childhood or adolescent age. Dermoscopy is a useful noninvasive technique to help in the diagnosis of wolly hair nevus. We report a case of woolly hair nevus associated with linear epidermal nevus.

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Context: Relatively scanty literature on autochthonic African Negroid hair morphology provokes research interest for anthropological, forensic, and cosmetic purposes. Aims: This study aimed to contribute basic morphological information on Ghanaian African hairs. Settings and Design: The study was done in selected second-cycle schools in Accra, Ghana, using convenient sampling. Subjects and Methods: Hairs were obtained by pluck method, from 30 males and 30 females aged 15–20 years. Ghanaian African autochthony was established if individuals had two generations of indigenous Ghanaian parentage. Scalp, eyebrow, axilla, and pubic hairs were image captured using a digital light microscope eyepiece connected to a computer. Diameters of hair strands were measured; types of the medulla and the form and shape of the hair roots were studied. Statistical Analysis Used: ANOVA test (SPSS Version 17.0) was used to compare the means of quantitative hair features among the sexes and the four regions of the body studied. Results: Pubic hair shaft was thickest (respective male and female diameters were 100.21 μm, 88.40 μm) and eyebrow hair was thinnest (53.97 and 46.69-μm diameters in males and females, respectively). Axillary and scalp hairs were the closest in diameters with 76.21 and 72.02 μm, respectively, in males and 73.07 and 71.15 μm, respectively, in females. Continuous type medulla was predominant in all hairs, with a trend of percentage occurrence in descending order from the pubic, axilla, eyebrow, and scalp in both sexes. Conclusions: Bodily regional differences in diameter of hair shaft and medullary presence were affirmed.

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Nerve sheath myxoma, a superficial myxoid tumor, was first described in 1969 by Harkin and Reed. Tumor has cytological and histological resemblance with neurothekeoma, another cutaneous myxoid lesion. Nerve sheath myxoma affects individuals of all age groups and equal predilection for both genders with most favored sites being the fingers and knee. Here, we present a case report of nerve sheath myxoma of the scalp, diagnosed and confirmed with histopathology and immunohistochemistry.

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Medical trichology is the branch of dermatology that deals with the scientific study of the hair and scalp in health and disease. As any discipline, the practice of medical trichology is not immune to malpractice, either deliberately or carelessly. In his publication “Autistic Undisciplined Thinking in Medicine and How to Overcome It,” Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler describes yet another form of malpractice in medicine reflecting autistic-undisciplined thinking. Autism is not limited to psychopathology, but inherent to the thinking of man throughout history in his drive for knowledge, with thousands of theories lacking any basis in reality. Bleuler recognized the drive character of autistic thinking and how it leads to conclusions that are unshakable because they are determined by, and fulfill, emotional needs, rather than rational argumentation. Even with correct questions, the complexity and incalculability of some problems are often so great that it cannot do justice to realistic thinking and the boundaries between inadequately substantiated hypothesis and autistic sham explanation disappear. Statistics, careful research design, and the attempt to impose stringent methods on our thinking are to be commended. The habituation of the public to useless medicine, to misconceptions, is not hygiene, but negligent endangerment. It has created an industry that largely lives on the autistic thinking of patients and doctors and because it is prosperous, makes propaganda among lay people as well as among doctors that necessarily leads to abuses. This article aims at exposing the most prevalent among abuses in trichological practice due to autistic-undisciplined thinking, specifically: iron supplementation, antiandrogenic treatment, and individualized cell-based therapy in female androgenetic alopecia, treatment of folliculitis decalvans with retinoids, and the value of nutritional therapies.

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