Acquired pili torti--a structural hair shaft defect in anorexia nervosa.

3 Small study in people

How much this weighs: research in people, but small or without a comparison group.

Type of study: clinical trial
Studied in: people
Participants: not stated in the abstract
Published: 1996 in Cutis
Cited: 5 times by other research
Who paid: Not declared. PubMed carries no conflict-of-interest statement for most articles; that is not the same as independent.
Source: PubMed 8882012

The plain-language write-up of this study is still being written. Below is the abstract exactly as the researchers published it.

Abstract by the researchers — original text

The hair of seventeen girls aged 13 to 19 years with anorexia nervosa (AN) was studied and compared with the hair of fifteen healthy girls aged 13 to 18 years with no complaints of hair loss but with similar habits of hairstyling and care. Light microscopic examination of the hair revealed no defect in the control group. In the AN group, fourteen patients (82.3 percent) had pili torti, an acquired hair shaft defect that has not yet been described in association with this disease. We estimate that the hair defect was due to malnutrition combined with ingestion of exaggerated amounts of yellow vegetables and vitamin supplements, causing a significant increase in levels of serum carotene, retinyl esters, retinol, and retinoic acid. We suggest a possible link between excess vitamin A and pili torti in patients with AN.