| Title |
The Hair in the Sinus: Sharp‐Ended Rootless Head Hair Fragments can be Found in Large Amounts in Pilonidal Sinus Nests
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
World Journal of Surgery, June 2017
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s00268-017-4093-5 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Friederike Bosche, Markus M. Luedi, Dominic van der Zypen, Philipp Moersdorf, Bjoern Krapohl, Dietrich Doll |
| Abstract |
Hair has been identified as the causative agent of Pilonidal Sinus Disease (PSD). Stiffer, dark hair as well as hairiness has been postulated as causative factors. Astonishingly, despite the early clinical significance of this condition (Hodges in Boston Med Surg J 2:485-486, 1880), macroscopic and microscopic examinations of hair inside pilonidal sinus cavities have been scarce. The purpose of this study was to study the morphological aspects of the hair found in PSD in order to determine the origin of the hair. Hair from inside pilonidal sinus cavities was collected intraoperatively from 20 PSD patients. Additionally, occipital, lumbar and intergluteal hair was harvested from the same patients and compared to the hair of volunteer-matched pair patients admitted to the hospital at the same time for non-PSD surgery. Intra- and intergroup variations of hair length were characterized with analysis of variance. Numbers and lengths of pilonidal sinus nest hair were recorded. Hair was examined clinically and with light and scanning electron microscopy using surface enhancing gold and carbon dust coating techniques. Analysis of 624 pilonidal sinus nest hair samples from 20 independent sinus cavities revealed that hair within pilonidal sinus nests is rootless in 74%. Shorter hair was found inside the pilonidal sinus compared to other sites (length 0.9 ± 0.7 cm p < 0.0001). Furthermore, hair found inside of the sinus was significantly shorter than hair protruding from pores (p < 0.000). Hair samples show razor sharp but no broken or split ends. On electron microscopy, these spiky hair ends resemble cut hair ends. Pilonidal hair nests contained between 1 and over 400 hair fragments. Short hair fragments with rootless sharp cut ends were found within pilonidal sinus cavities. Morphologically, these fragments resemble short cut rather than intact body hair. Since short cut hair, e.g., derived from the head potentially enters the pilonidal cavity more easily than longer hair, the source of these cut hair fragments needs to be eliminated when aiming to prevent Pilonidal Sinus Disease. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 4 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 1 | 25% |
| Unknown | 3 | 75% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 3 | 75% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 25% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 27 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 27 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Researcher | 5 | 19% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 5 | 19% |
| Other | 3 | 11% |
| Student > Bachelor | 3 | 11% |
| Lecturer | 1 | 4% |
| Other | 4 | 15% |
| Unknown | 6 | 22% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Medicine and Dentistry | 11 | 41% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 3 | 11% |
| Psychology | 1 | 4% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 1 | 4% |
| Unknown | 11 | 41% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 6. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 13 June 2023.
All research outputs
#5,470,681
of 22,982,639 outputs
Outputs from World Journal of Surgery
#925
of 4,255 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#86,318
of 316,843 outputs
Outputs of similar age from World Journal of Surgery
#18
of 80 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,982,639 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 76th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 4,255 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.6. This one has done well, scoring higher than 78% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 316,843 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 72% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 80 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 77% of its contemporaries.