ABSTRACT
Certain types of alopecia, such as traction alopecia (TA), discoid lupus erythematosus, and central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia, occur more commonly in African-American individuals than in those of other ethnicities. TA is hair loss due to ongoing, long-time or repetitive tension on the hair and is commonly seen not only in women of African descent who have tightly curly or spiral hair but in any ethnicity. TA was first described in 1907. TA affects one-third of women of African descent who wear various forms of traumatic hairstyling for a prolonged period of time. There is a large variation in the pattern of clinical presentation of TA. It there is no suspicion of traction, it can be difficult to diagnose. Patients may present with non-specific symptoms: Itching, Redness, Scaling, Folliculitis or pustules, and so on. Diagnosis of TA is generally established through directed patient history, scalp and hair examination, trichoscopy, and basic laboratory studies.
