Abstract
For many years the aetiology of neonatal occipital alopecia (NOA) has been reported to be friction. We have made a retrospective check to see if the incidence of NOA has increased since the new paediatric tendencies of putting children back to sleep in the safest way have been used (APP guidelines). The results of this study in 301 neonates demonstrated that it has not. The aetiology of this phenomenon is the physiological shedding of hair in the first weeks of life. The pillow, which is often blamed, only aids this shedding. Parents should be informed that there is no relationship between the sleep position and the onset of this problem, to prevent them from changing the position of the sleeping child, which could lead to a fatal outcome.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barman JM, Pecoraro V, Astore I, Ferrer J (1967) The first stage in the natural history of the human scalp hair cycle. J Invest Dermatol 48:138–142
Barth JH (1977) The hair in infancy and childhood. In: Dawber RPR (ed) Diseases of the hair and scalp, 3d edn. Blackwell Science, Oxford, pp 51–66
Barth JH (1987) Normal hair growth in children. Pediatr Dermatol 4:173–184
Cotsarellis G, Millar SE, Chan EF (2003) Embryology and anatomy of the hair follicle. In: Olsen EA (ed) Disorders of hair growth. Diagnosis and treatment, 2nd edn. McGraw Hill, Barcelona, Spain, pp 1–22
Eichenfield LF, Frieden IJ, Esterly NB (2001) Localized alopecia In: Eichenfield LF, Frieden IJ, Esterly NB (eds) Textbook of neonatal dermatology. Saunders, p 494
Gibson E, Cullen JA, Spinner S, Rankin K, Spitzer AR (1995) Infant sleep position following new AAP guidelines. Pediatrics 96:69–72
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the SIDS Alliance, the Association of SIDS and Infant Mortality Programs. SIDS: “Back to Sleep” Campaign,http://www.nichd.nih.gov/sids/
Olsen EA (2003) Hair loss in childhood. In: Olsen EA (ed) Disorders of hair growth. Diagnosis and treatment, 2nd edn. McGraw Hill, Barcelona, Spain, pp 177–238
Sinclair RD, Banfield CC, Dawber RPR (1999) Hair structure and function. In: Sinclair RD, Banfield CC, Dawber RPR (eds) Handbook of diseases of the hair and scalp. Blackwell Science, Victoria, Australia, pp 9–12
Tanzi EL, Hornung RL, Silverberg NB (2002) Halo scalp ring: a case series and review of the literature. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 156:188–190
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
We declare that there is no potential conflict of interest, real or perceived
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cutrone, M., Grimalt, R. Transient neonatal hair loss: a common transient neonatal dermatosis. Eur J Pediatr 164, 630–632 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-005-1707-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-005-1707-y