Hair cross‐sectioning in uncombable hair syndrome: An epoxy embedding technique

Abstract

Uncombable hair syndrome is a rare disorder of the hair shaft that leads to silvery and unruly hair. The hair shaft anomaly is characterized by a longitudinal groove that is detected by scanning electronic microscopy-considered to be the gold standard for diagnosis. Recently, hair cross-sectioning has been reported as a viable alternative, but currently available methods still have some flaws, especially because of hair samples' processing specificities. Here, we present two cases of uncombable hair syndrome and a new embedding technique using epoxy to perform the diagnosis.

Unruly Hair with Irregular Cross Sections: Answer

“…This contrasts with the smooth, cylindrical shape of unaffected hair. 1,4 Scanning electron microscopy is the traditional method described for identifying UHS because of the inability to detect these structural abnormalities on bedside examination with light microscopy. However, this technology may not be readily available, and alternative diagnostic techniques evaluating the cross sections of hair have been reported in recent years.…”

“…This contrasts with the smooth, cylindrical shape of unaffected hair. 1,4 Scanning electron microscopy is the traditional method described for identifying UHS because of the inability to detect these structural abnormalities on bedside examination From the…”

“…However, this technology may not be readily available, and alternative diagnostic techniques evaluating the cross sections of hair have been reported in recent years. 4,5 In patients with UHS, triangular or reniform cross sections should be identified in greater than 50% of sampled hair. 5,6 However, cross-sectioning carries the risk of loss of hair cross sections.…”

High-throughput phenotyping methods for quantifying hair fiber morphology

“…These techniques are feasible for straight hairs, which can be easily manipulated to lie flat and parallel to each other but are not practical for curly hairs because non-straight hairs cannot be reliably embedded in a manner that allows for a reproducible cross-sectional cut. Previous attempts to overcome this problem included using a heat-shrink tube and drawing the hair through the tube 19 , bundling hairs and slightly embedding them before embedding them fully 20 , and stretching hairs over cardboard before embedding them in a large resin block 12 . All of these methods are laborious and cannot be scaled to the study of large samples.…”

High-throughput phenotyping methods for quantifying hair fiber morphology

“…These techniques are feasible for straight hairs, which can be easily manipulated to lie flat and parallel to each other, but are not practical for curly hairs because non-straight hairs cannot be reliably embedded in a manner that allows for a reproducible cross-sectional cut. Previous attempts to overcome this problem included using a heat-shrink tube and drawing the hair through the tube 15 , bundling hairs and slightly embedding them before embedding them fully 16 , and stretching hairs over cardboard before embedding them in a large resin block 13 . All of these methods are laborious and cannot be scaled to the study of large samples.…”