Monilethrix

What it means

The hair shaft has a beaded appearance due to the presence of elliptical nodes that have the diameter of normal hair and are medullated, regularly separated by internodes that are narrow, devoid of medulla and are the site of fracture.

This feature is often accompanied by hair loss.

Rare diseases that can present with this1

The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.

Part of the broader category