The Significance of Serum Ferritin and vitamin D Levels in Females Patients with Chronic Telogen Effluvium

Abstract

Back ground : Diffuse hair loss is a very common complaint usually occurs without inflammation or scarring
.The loss affects hairs throughout the scalp in a more or less uniform pattern . That is characterized by the
ingress of a large number of hairs prematurely into telogen phase resulting in diffuse hair shedding at one
time often with an acute onset so named acute telogen effluvium .A chronic form with a more insidious onset
and a longer duration also exists called chronic telogen effluvium which primarily affects women between
the ages of 30 and 60 years and is a diagnosis of exclusion and can cause a great psychological impact on
the life of the affected person.
Objective: Measurement the level of serum ferritin and the level of serum vitamin D In adult females with
chronic telogen effluvium in order to validate their role in the process of hair loss .
Patients& Methods : This cross-sectional study was conducted at the outpatient Department of Dermatology
and Venereology in Al-kindy Teaching Hospital between March and November 2017.Sixty adult Female at
age (12 to 52 years) with hair loss in the form of CTE otherwise they are healthy and sixty adult healthy with
same age-matched female with no hair loss were included in the study. Diagnosis was based upon clinical
examination as well as hair pull test. Serum ferritin and vitamin D levels and Hemoglobin were determined
for each participant .
Results : Hair loss can have an emotional impact on patients leading to anxiety and frustration. Therefore,
diagnosing the underlying etiology is necessary for the better management of the disorder The results of this
study suggest that the reduced hair density seen in CTE may possibly be associated with low serum levels
of ferritin and vitamin D. It is recommended that hemoglobin level measurement should not be solely relied
on in the assessment of hair loss, as it was not significantly different between patients with CTE and controls
as seen in our study.
Conclusions: The female cases in this study had significantly low levels of serum ferritin and vitamin D than
controls .Our study highlights the importance of serum ferritin and vitamin D evaluation in case of diffuse
hair fall.