Posted a picture of her son and found out he had a rare syndrome
The post received a response from a foreign man who asked if the toddler might be suffering from a rare hair-related syndrome, and he was right.
What does the syndrome include and how many children in the world have it?
Walla!
health
08/03/2022
Tuesday, 08 March 2022, 11:04 Updated: 12:09
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Social media is being criticized by many, but the truth is that sometimes they succeed in helping people.
A post by a mother on social media that featured her young son's unruly hair led to a surprising diagnosis: it turns out that Luke Sample from Roswell, Georgia, has a very rare condition known as "Uncombable Hair Syndrome," or UHS.
The name is quite understandable when you look at the little Luke whose hair is completely erect and impossible to arrange.
"I never heard of it," Luke Kathleen Samples' mother told the Washington Post, "I was pretty freaked out."
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The baby's cellphone photo looked suspicious.
And from there everything got complicated
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Luke was diagnosed only after a stranger approached her to suggest that the toddler might be suffering from the syndrome.
The condition is so rare that there are only about 100 known cases of the syndrome, which is characterized by dry and frizzy hair - usually straw-colored - and it usually appears before age 3.
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A post shared by Locklan Samples (@uncombable_locks)
The mother did a Google, then called Luke's pediatrician.
"And they said, 'We know Luke, and we know his hair, but we can not really help you here, so we're going to send you directly to an expert,'" Samples recalls.
That's how they got to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Locklan Samples (@uncombable_locks)
The source of the problem, according to experts, is the canal through which the hair passes - from the follicle until it penetrates the scalp.
Slits along its length cause dry and standing hair, which is subject to the influence of static electricity.
A study of the syndrome found three genes that cause the condition: PADI3, TGM3, or TCHH.
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The good news is that it is not so serious, beyond the appearance of the hair that does not work out.
Luke's hair does not cause him pain or increases the risk of other problems, except perhaps for more sensitive skin than usual.
The amount of hair remains normal, but often the hair grows slowly and in different directions.
In many cases the hair is improved in the late childhood years.
Since the diagnosis, Samples and her husband Caleb have launched an Instagram page about their 17-month-old son to raise awareness of the syndrome and help understand and treat it.
And if Luke's hair does not change in adulthood, that's fine too.
"I love it," his mother says, "we are so proud of it. I think it's cool to have something that makes you stand out. We really see it as a blessing."
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