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Volume 3 Issue 1 (January - March, 2015)

Original Articles

Association of Serum Ferritin Levels and Alopecia in Women
Harsh Wardhan

Introduction: Women presenting with diffuse hair loss is a very common and challenging problem for dermatologists. The relationship between body iron status and different types of hair loss has been investigated in a number of studies, however, with relatively discrepant findings. Aim: To evaluate whether chronic hair loss (CTE) in females are associated with decreased iron stores as measured by serum ferritin levels. Material and methods: A sample size of 50 females aged between 15 and 45 years, having CTE and patterend hair loss, were included in our study. A detailed history was taken and dermatological, systemic examination was carried out. Diagnosis of CTE and Female pattern hair loss (FPHL) was made on clinical examination and by performing hair-pull test. The FPHL was graded using Ludwig's scale (Ludwig patterns I–III). Serum ferritin levels of the study participants were also measured. Results: mean age of women in the study population was 38.21 years. Hair-pull test was positive in all participants with CTE but it was negative in all women with FPHL. Mean ferritin level of the whole study population was 19.4 µg/l. Mean serum ferritin levels in women with CTE came to be 15.4 µg/l. while Mean serum ferritin levels in women with FPHL came to be 32.32 µg/l. 80% (N=36) of women with CTE had serum ferritin levels <41 μg/L while 40 % (N=4) cases of FPHL had serum ferritin levels <41 μg/L. Conclusion: We demonstrated that association exists between hair loss and ID in the participants of this study. Further scientific studies are required with larger sample size to postulate quantitative association between different etiological factors and hair loss in iron deficient female. Key words: alopecia, Chronic diffuse hair loss, serum ferritin levels, female pattern hair loss

 
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