Faun tail: a rare cutaneous sign of spinal dysraphism

Abstract

Faun tail is a triangle-shaped hypertrichosis of the lumbosacral region. It is a rare condition and it can be a cutaneous marker of underlying spinal cord anomaly. We report on a 17-year-old female patient with hypertrichosis on the lumbosacral area since birth that was later diagnosed with tethered cord in magnetic resonance imaging.

Faun tail naevus at a unique location as a clue to underlying spinal anomalies

“…2 In our case, the dermoscopic features were studied, which is the first report of such features, to our knowledge. Acquired reticular genital melanosis is not common, 1 and the dermoscopic reticular pattern that we observed in the pigmented lesions is not typical of genital melanosis in males, unlike in women. In males, melanosis often affects the glans penis rather than the shaft, 3 and dermatoscopy usually shows a parallel pattern, 3,4…”

“…In 2010, Romero-Mat e et al 1 reported two cases of reticulate genital pigmentation associated with localized vitiligo in two men, aged 21 and 75 years. In 2013, Harmelin et al 2 reported three cases of acquired genital hyperpigmentation associated with achromic lesions in three males aged 23, 18 and 54 years, in which the reticulate pigmentation had been present for several years.…”

“…Faun tail naevus (FTN) is the term given to congenital localized hypertrichosis involving the lumbosacral region, presenting as a tuft of coarse terminal hairs of variable length. It may be an important cutaneous marker of underlying spinal dysraphism . The site involved in FTN in all the reported cases in literature has always been the lumbosacral region .…”

“…Although the lumbosacral region has always been reported to be involved in FTN, the upper thoracic location of FTN seen in our case was unique and has not been previously reported in the literature, to our knowledge. The presence of associated spinal abnormalities in our case suggests that presence of faun tail or midline hypertrichosis in locations other than the lumbosacral region warrants investigations such as MRI to exclude spinal anomalies.…”

“…It may be an important cutaneous marker of underlying spinal dysraphism. 1 The site involved in FTN in all the reported cases in literature has always been the lumbosacral region. 1 We present a case of FTN with underlying spinal dysraphism involving the upper thoracic region, a site of FTN hitherto unreported in the literature.…”