Woolly hair
Medical condition / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Woolly hair is a difficult to brush hair, usually present since birth and typically most severe in childhood.[1] It has extreme curls and kinks and occurs in non-black people and is distinct from afro-textured hair.[3] The hairs come together to form tight locks, unlike in afro-textured hair, where the hairs remain individual.[1] Woolly hair can be generalised over the whole scalp, when it tends to run in families, or it may involve just part of the scalp as in woolly hair nevus.[2]
Woolly hair | |
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Woolly hair and other symptoms of Naxos syndrome | |
Symptoms | Hair: difficult to brush, tight locks, short, lighter colour[1] |
Usual onset | Birth, infancy[1] |
Types | Familial, hereditary, woolly hair nevus[2] |
Risk factors | May run in families[1] |
Diagnostic method | Microscopy, trichoscopy, dermoscopy, electron microscopy[2] |
Prognosis | May improve with age[1] |
Frequency | Rare[1] |
The presence of woolly hair may indicate other problems such as with the heart in Naxos–Carvajal syndrome.[4] Diagnosis is suspected by its general appearance and confirmed by scanning electron microscopy.[5]
The condition is rare.[1] Alfred Milne Gossage coined the term woolly hair in 1908.[6][7] Edgar Anderson distinguished woolly hair from afro-textured hair in 1936.[8]