FAUN TAIL
Abstract
A 13 years old presented in neurosurgery out-patient with dorsal backache and difficulty in walking. Clinical examination revealed localized hypertrichosis in the mid-dorsal region without hyper-reflexia in both lower limbs with no motor defect or sphincter disturbances. MRI and CT scan revealed underlying diastometamyelia and a bony spur causing cord tethering. Patient was operated upon and the cord was detethered. Patient recovered well after the surgery with improvement of presenting symptoms. Hypertrichosis is a dermatological condition characterized by excessive growth of hair on non-androgen dependent areas of body. Primary hypertrichosis can either be localized or generalized. The primary localized variety may occur as hypertrichosis cubiti that involves the elbows, anterior cervical hypertrichosis, posterior cervical hypertrichosis or a faun tail deformity.1The word “faun” refers to an Italian deity in human form with horns, pointed ears with goat's legs and tail.2 In certain racial groups such as African American, Asian and Hispanic, hypertrichosis in the lumbosacral region may be a normal entity. A faun tail is an abnormal congenital lock of course, triangular-shaped, terminal hair situated on the lumbosacral area of various lengths.3 It is an important cutaneous marker of underlying spinal abnormalities like spinal dysraphism. Other cutaneous markers of such spinal abnormalities include dimples, dermal sinuses, subcutaneous lipomas, port wine stain, hemangiomas, aplasia cutis, telengiectasia, capillary malformation acrochordons, hemangiomas, aplasia cutis, etc. Yet, among some races like African American, Asian and Hispanic, hypertrichosis in the lumbosacral region may be a normal entity.2It is important for the clinicians to be pick up the cutaneous markers of spinal abnormalities at early stages so that the neurosurgical consultation can be made before the overt manifestation of neurological symptoms are picked. Since the outcome of surgical intervention may not be that fruitful once the neurology starts to deteriorate.References
Lee HI, Rho YK, Kim BJ, Kim MN. A case of faun tail naevus treated by intense pulsed light. Ann Dermatol 2009;21(2):147–9.
Drolet BA. Cutaneous signs of neural tube dysraphism. Pediatr Clin North Am 2000;47:813–23
Yamini M, Sridevi KS, Babu NP, Chetty NG Indian Dermatol Online J 2011;2:23–4.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Journal of Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad is an OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL which means that all content is FREELY available without charge to all users whether registered with the journal or not. The work published by J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad is licensed and distributed under the creative commons License CC BY ND Attribution-NoDerivs. Material printed in this journal is OPEN to access, and are FREE for use in academic and research work with proper citation. J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad accepts only original material for publication with the understanding that except for abstracts, no part of the data has been published or will be submitted for publication elsewhere before appearing in J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad. The Editorial Board of J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad makes every effort to ensure the accuracy and authenticity of material printed in J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad. However, conclusions and statements expressed are views of the authors and do not reflect the opinion/policy of J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad or the Editorial Board.
USERS are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.
AUTHORS retain the rights of free downloading/unlimited e-print of full text and sharing/disseminating the article without any restriction, by any means including twitter, scholarly collaboration networks such as ResearchGate, Academia.eu, and social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Scholar and any other professional or academic networking site.