10.5826/dpc.1202a59
text/xml
2160-9381
1885
en
Matilde Iorizzo
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Dermatology Practical & Conceptual
Card test as a simple method to diagnose short anagen syndrome
Text.Serial.Journal
https://dpcj.org/index.php/dpc
Image Letter
2022-05-02
2021-07-14
2022-05-02
2022-05-24
e2022059
Dermatol Pract Concept
Matilde Iorizzo
2022/05/02
10.5826/dpc.1202a59
e2022059
Private Dermatology Practice, Bellinzona/Lugano, Switzerland
2160-9381
en
e2022059
Card test as a simple method to diagnose short anagen syndrome
https://dpcj.org/index.php/dpc/article/download/1885/1572
                    Dermatology Practical & Conceptual

    Card Test as a Simple Method to Diagnose Short
                    Anagen Syndrome
                                            Matilde Iorizzo1, Michela Starace2,3


1 Private Dermatology Practice, Bellinzona/Lugano, Switzerland
2 Dermatology, IRCCS, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
3 Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.



Citation: Iorizzo M, Starace M. Card Test As a Simple Method to Diagnose Short Anagen Syndrome. Dermatol Pract Concept.
2022;12(2):e2022059. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5826/dpc.1202a59
Accepted: August 19, 2021; Published: April 2022
Copyright: ©2022 Iorizzo et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial License (BY-NC-4.0), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/, which permits unrestricted noncommercial use,
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited.
Funding: None.
Competing interests: None.
Authorship: Both authors have contributed significantly to this publication.
Corresponding author: Matilde Iorizzo, MD PhD, Private Dermatology Practice, Viale Stazione 16, 6500 Bellinzona (Switzerland).
E-mail: matildeiorizzo@gmail.com



Case Presentation                                                         Teaching Point
In short, anagen hair syndrome (SAS), the hairs are short,                We propose the card test as a quick and inexpensive method
fine, and sparse since birth even if the typical patient pres-            to help in the diagnosis of SAS. Tufts of hairs are placed on
ents to a medical consultation around the age of 5-6 years.               a card (Figure 1A) and observed with a dermoscope at 20X
Parents often complain the hair doesn’t grow long and that                magnification: thin hair shafts with pointed tips are proof
they have never been cut. The presence of short hair shafts               the hairs have never been cut (Figure 1B). This test can be
is due to a short duration of the anagen phase. Hair shafts               done even without pulling the hair out of the scalp.
have also been described as thinner and in telogen phase.
The clinician should rule out congenital hypotrichosis, loose
anagen hair syndrome, telogen effluvium.




  Figure 1. (A) The card test showing how a tuft of short hairs should be placed on a card before observing them with a dermatoscope. (B)
  Multiple and exclusively pointed tips, showing the short shafts have never been cut, and after cut, are easily seen with a 20X magnification.


Image Letter | Dermatol Pract Concept. 2022;12(2):e2022059                                                                                        1
