P8.93 A CASE OF CENTRAL TRICHOPTILOSIS WITH NAIL DYSTROPHY

Yong Hee Nam, Myung Im, Young Joon Seo, Jeung Hoon Lee, Jang Kyu Park

Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, Chungnam National University, Teajon, Korea

Trichoptilosis is the longitudinal splitting of the distal end of hair. This results from weathering of the cuticle by chemical and physical stimuli. Very rarely, central trichoptilosis is seen, where the longitudinal split does not involve the free end of the hair.

A 30-year-old woman presented to the dermatology clinic with a 10-year history of dryness and brittleness of hair. Since she entered university, she subjected her hair to repeated cosmetic trauma, including: frequent washing of her hair, using a steel comb, and frequent hair dyeing and permanents (over 2 times/month).

On physical examination, her hair was dry and brittle with no other abnormal findings.  Her scalp also revealed no erythema or scaling. On light microscopy, three or four units of bifurcated segments within the center of the hair shaft were detected per hair.  On scanning electron microscopy, a longitudinal split of the hair shaft was revealed. In addition, a nail color change to a whitish hue occurred simultaneously. We concluded that this disease entity was central trichoptilosis and recommended that the patient avoid further cosmetic trauma which would inevitably lead to recurrence as well as use of a hair treatment solution.