Onycholysis associated with subungual manifestation of barber's hair sinus

Abstract

A female hairdresser presented with hair fragments embedded under her fingernails in association with yellow-brownish discoloration and distal detachment of the nails. Based on these findings, we made the diagnosis of subungual barber's hair sinus with onycholysis. To our knowledge, this unique clinical picture has not been reported previously. A detailed medical history revealed several risk factors that might have contributed to the disease. Here, we briefly review what is known about barber's hair sinus, an occupational disease that is usually encountered in male hairdressers and only rarely manifests in women.