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Electrolysis, the only permanent hair removal method |
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THE WORD ‘HAIR’ is a simple, uncomplicated name for the slender threadlike outgrowth which appears on the epidermis of some animals. But the moment hair falls into the lap of science and medicine, it is caught up in a language that is virtually unintelligible to the uninitiated. The one-in-a-million child who is born with a heavy covering of hair over the entire body, is said to be a victim of hypertrichosis congenital universalis (HCU). The most famous person with this condition was Jo Jo the Dog-faced Boy, who appeared with the P. T. Barnum sideshow. Dr. Leslie Rose thinks that Esau, one of the twins born of Isaac and Rebekah, was a victim of HCU. The Old Testament says, “And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment: and they called his name Esau” [Hebrew = hairy]. Dr. Robert Greenblatt didn’t agree with Dr. Rose’s diagnosis. In his book Search the Scriptures, Greenblatt suggested that what the hairy lad may have had was congenital virilizing adrenal hyperplasia. CVAH causes the adrenal gland to produce an excess of virilizing hormones, and Greenblatt says that a male child with this disease is often an infant Hercules. “His muscular development, his strength, and the size of his genitals are all abnormal. His voice is extremely deep, and he is very hairy.” Nobody’s going to admit they can’t figure out Esau’s excess hair problem –but even a plain “I don’t know,” would come out as idiopathic hirsutism. A person who does permanent hair removal is called an electrologist: which isn’t too unmanageable. But a small twist of fate could easily have made these practitioners hypertrichologists, or trichodemologists. When researchers want to measure, in grams, the force necessary to pluck an individual hair from the human scalp, they use a tool with a ten-dollar name; trichotillometer [Gr. tricho = hair: tillein = to pull]. Someone who has a compulsion to pull out their own hair, is said to have tricotillomania. When we get into the diseases of the hair, names get even more complex. A benign skin tumor originating in the follicle, is trichoepithelioma. Little swellings that occur on hair and split into brush-like fibre nodules at the site of the fracture, are part of a condition known as trichorrhexis nodosa. A burrowing or “ingrowing” hair gets the 20-letter tongue twister pili incarnati recurvi. But the real jawbreaker – describing a chronic skin disorder involving pustules which form around buried hairs – is known to the scientific world as pseudofolliculitis barbae. Plica polonica (meaning Polish plait), is a scalp disorder as curious as the name that identifies it. A clump of hair becomes matted and encrusted –usually as a result of neglect, filth, and infestation – and takes on the appearance of a cow’s tail. The condition was fairly common in Poland in the 17th century. The problem starts when Pediculus humanus capitis – or head lice – bite the scalp in order to suck blood. The biting sets up itching, which leads to scratching by the patient, inducing secondary pus inoculation. The appendage of tangled hair that results, eventually becomes a hard, impenetrable mass of keratin fibers that are permanently cemented together with dried pus, blood, old egg-casings and dirt. King Christian IV of Denmark (1588 - 1648) is probably the most notable figure in history to be afflicted with plica polonica. Strutting around the court in all his finery, his odd-looking pigtail (hanging from the left side of his head) tied with a bow of red ribbon, King Christian was a familiar sight to his subjects. To flatter him, all his courtiers adopted the hairstyle. |
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