title: Hair and Scalp Disorders in a Tuscan Pediatric Dermatological Outpatient Clinic: A Clinical and Epidemiological Evaluation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical and epidemiological profile of hair and scalp disorders in children referred to the Pediatric Dermatology Outpatient Clinic.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a retrospective study of children with hair loss problems or scalp diseases who turned to the Pediatric Dermatology Service, Anna Meyer Pediatric Hospital, Florence, Italy, from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2009. Demographics, personal and familial medical history, laboratory tests, clinical examination, final diagnosis and therapeutic interventions were obtained from the manual chart review.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 2,640 children who had access to the Pediatric Dermatology Service, 190 (7.19%) had a hair or scalp disorder. Among the 190 children, 60 (31.57%) presented with nonscarring alopecia, 56 (29.47%) had benign neoplasias, hamartomas or vascular malformations of the scalp, 51 (26.84%) had scalp inflammatory diseases, 14 (7.36%) had scarring alopecia, 5 (2.63%) had infections and 2 (1.05%) had infestation of the scalp. A case of constitutional hypertrichosis (0.52%) and also a case (0.52%) of lamellar ichthyosis were diagnosed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results underline that hair and scalp diseases represent an important percentage of admittances to a dermatological pediatric outpatient clinic. The variety and complexity of the diseases observed in this study included diseases commonly found also in adulthood.
authors.affiliation: Section of Dermatology, Department of Surgery and Translational Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Rossana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Conti
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Colucci
authors.forename: Meena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arunachalam
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berti
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fabroni
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Martino
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dragoni
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lazzeri
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pisaneschi
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moretti
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D017789:Granuloma, Pyogenic / Q000453:epidemiology; D006201:Hair Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006222:Hamartoma / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009506:Nevus / Q000453:epidemiology; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012535:Scalp; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*