Pili annulati. A scanning electron microscopy study

A case of ringed hair studied by light and electron microscopy is reported. The patient, a 20-year old girl, had been presenting with the hair abnormality since birth. At naked eye examination the hairs were dry, 6 to 7 cm long, and they showed dull and shining areas giving the scalp hair a scintillating appearance (fig. 1). Several samples of hair were taken and examined by light microscopy under white and polarized light. Hair shafts and cryo-fractured surfaces were examined by scanning electron microscopy. RESULTS. 1. Light microscopy. Lesions were found in every hair examined. There were abnormal, opaque and fusiform areas alternating with normal areas all along the hair shaft (fig. 2). The abnormal areas resulted from intracortical air-filled cavities. Fractures similar to those of trichorrhexis nodosa were found in the opaque areas of the distal parts of the hairs. 2. Scanning electron microscopy. A. Hair shaft surface. The abnormal areas showed a longitudinal, "curtain-like" folding of the cuticular cells which had punctiform depressions on their surface and worn free edges (fig. 4, 5, 6); trichorrhexis-type fractures were seen in the distal parts of the hair shafts (fig. 7, 8). Normal areas regularly presented with longitudinal, superficial, short and non-systematized depressions (fig. 9); the cuticular cells were worn, and there were places where the denuded cortex showed dissociated cortical fibres (fig. 10).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)