Poliosis is the decrease or absence of melanin in head hair, eyebrows, eyelashes or any other hirsute area. It is popularly known as white forelock when it affects hair directly above the forehead. This condition can cause single or, less commonly, multiple white patches on the hair.
Mallen itself comes from the Latin 'malignus', meaning wicked – damn, those characters were doomed from the start. Like many commonly-occurring physical traits, these white streaks (also sometimes patches or spots) once marked their wearers as evil, cursed or generally 'other'.
This rare condition is the decrease or absence of melanin (or color) in head hair, eyebrows or eyelashes. Otherwise known as a “Mallen Streak” – this look is hereditary.
The Mallen Streak is caused by a genetic mutation that affects the production of pigment in the hair follicle. This mutation can result in a patch of white or pale hair that is typically present at birth or appears in early childhood.
Poliosis is caused by low amounts of melanin and melanocytes in your hair follicle. Melanin is the pigment that gives skin and hair color, and melanocytes are cells that make melanin. There are two general types of poliosis: acquired and genetic.
While poliosis is not harmful, it can be a sign of various conditions that are. The harmful conditions that can trigger poliosis include melanoma skin cancer, thyroid disorders, and inflammatory conditions, among others.
Poliosis is a rare condition that is thought to affect between 1 in 40,000 and 1 in 100,000 Caucasian people.
Classically, poliosis is known to occur in the setting of several genetic syndromes including piebaldism, Waardenburg, and tuberous sclerosis. In addition, poliosis has been described in association with various acquired conditions.
3 Though some people are born with poliosis from an associated genetic condition, the resulting patches of white hair are not considered birthmarks.
Most people with poliosis are healthy and experience it only because there is no pigment in the hair and skin in that area. It can be hereditary, but it also can occur with rare medical conditions, such as piebaldism, a genetic disease with single or multiple white patches of hair.
This often displays as a single streak of white hair, the type seen in fictional characters like the Bride of Frankenstein and Rogue from X-Men, and famously sported by the legendary 1970's sports presenter, Dickie Davies - which is known as a 'Mallen Streak'.
For a small percentage of people, the Mallen streak will occur naturally - known scientifically as Poliosis, which can appear at birth but often reveals itself much later.
Bonnie Raitt
Raitt has poliosis, a rare hair condition that zaps melanin from certain parts of her hair.
The bleached effect is known as the Mallen Streak, and is caused by a condition called poliosis, which is characterized by a lack of pigment in the hair.
It is postulated that the etiology of this disorder is genetic and transmitted either as an autosomal recessive or X-linked recessive conditions.
Popular culture. It is sometimes called a Mallen streak, after a fictional family with hereditary poliosis. The Mallen family featured in a sequence of novels by Catherine Cookson, of which The Mallen Streak was the first. She later adapted them into a TV series called The Mallens.
Distinctive hair coloring (such as a patch of white hair or hair that prematurely turns gray) is another common sign of the condition. The features of Waardenburg syndrome vary among affected individuals, even among people in the same family.
'Leukotrichia' means 'white hair', while poliosis is the presence of white or hypopigmented hairs in a group of follicles. Leukotrichia/poliosis results from a reduction or absence of melanin in the hair follicle. The term 'canities' is usually used to indicate progressive loss of hair pigment with age.
Poliosis is a clinical diagnosis. Clinical assessment and investigations may be required to determine the cause. Skin biopsy will show a lack of melanin and/or melanocytes in the hair bulbs. Epidermal melanocytes will be normal unless there is associated vitiligo-like leukoderma.
The bad news is that white hairs in patches of vitiligo, known as poliosis, heralds a poorer prognosis than pigmented cells.
A new study shows that stress really can give you gray hair. Researchers found that the body's fight-or-flight response plays a key role in turning hair gray. Your hair color is determined by pigment-producing cells called melanocytes.
Marie Antoinette syndrome designates the condition in which scalp hair suddenly turns white. The name alludes to the unhappy Queen Marie Antoinette of France (1755-1793), whose hair allegedly turned white the night before her last walk to the guillotine during the French Revolution.
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