Knotted lanugo in a newborn: Cultural practices revealed

Carli D Needle1, Vignesh Ramachandran1, Vikash S Oza1

  • 1The Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA.

Pediatric Dermatology
|December 10, 2023
PubMed

Across the world, there are varied cultural practices applied in the newborn period that pediatric dermatologists need to be familiar with. This report details a 9-day-old girl who presented with black, spike-like hairs across the back after her mother had been rubbing breast milk on her back in a circular motion for the first 7 days of life. On dermatoscopic exam, these lesions were found to be tight bundles of lanugo hairs, consistent with a diagnosis of knotted lanugo. Improved understanding of cultural practices and newborn skin care routines is critical for diagnosis, treatment, and counseling.