Short anagen syndrome is a relatively recently described entity. This syndrome is an unusual condition where the anagen growth phase of hair follicles is shorter than normal. Its clinical characteristics and trichogram findings contribute to the diagnosis of this trichosis.
Three-years-old girl with low density and slow growth scalp hair that had not been cut since birth. Her birth and medical history were unremarkable. The physical examination revealed short and fine brown scalp hair with decreased density in frontoparietal areas (
Short anagen syndrome is a relatively recently recognized entity poorly documented. Short hair due to a short anagen phase was described in 1987 by Kersey as part of tricho-dental syndrome [
The normal ratio of anagen to telogen is 9:1 and the ratio of the duration of these phases of the hair cycle in normal hair growth is parallel. In children between 3 and 11 years old 90% of the hair are in the anagen phase. Nevertheless in short anagen syndrome the ratio of anagen to telogen could reach 4:50 [
The incidence is unknown, although it is clear that this condition appears from birth and more frequent in blond hair with a female predominance, with spontaneous reso-
lution during the puberty and adulthood. There are few cases reported with a probable autosomal dominant inheritance [
short hair and low density hair that had not been cut since birth, without fragility or hair loss tendency [
The clinical diagnosis is based on the clinic history and the physical examination, because hair is thinned in appearance and typically does not grow beyond the neck. The tricogram demonstrate the decrease of anagen hairs proportion between telogen hairs [
In conclusion, short anagen syndrome is a relatively recently described entity scantly documented with a low frequency of presentation in the daily clinic. The knowledge of the clinical and trichological characteristics makes the diagnosis possible.