Autosomal recessive woolly hair syndrome: a series of eight patients in an Indian population

Woolly hair is an uncommon disorder of the hair shaft, characterized by tightly coiled scalp hair often accompanied by varying grades of hypotrichosis. Woolly hair involving the entire scalp can be syndromic when associated with various anomalies involving the heart, nervous system, liver, gastrointestinal organs and so on, and is designated as nonsyndromic when it occurs in isolation without any systemic involvement. Nonsyndromic woolly hair can be autosomal dominant or autosomal recessive. We hereby present a series of eight cases of autosomal recessive woolly hair (ARWH) seen in an Indian population in the last 12 years. Their clinical presentation, hair characteristics and response to treatment is described.