ABSTRACT
Iron deficiency is present when body iron content is diminished. Its occurrence implies that body iron stores as present in ferritin and hemosiderin have been exhausted and the organism is in the last stages of serious iron depletion. Nonhematological manifestations related to iron deficiency have long been suspected but have generally been regarded as late and unusual complications of severe iron deficiency; however, studies of Dallman and Siimes have shown that when iron supply to the erythron becomes inadequate, there is a depletion of essential iron in many other body tissues as well. Trophic changes in iron deficiency may cause the hair to become brittle, splitting at the ends, and thinning, and there may also be early graying. Dysphagia in iron deficiency anemia is believed to be secondary to obstruction caused by a web of tissues with a predilection for the postcricoid region of the hypopharynx.
