Background: Due to a growing interest in developmental disorders, and in the long-term skin appendage diseases, both in the cosmetic industry and among specialists in dermatology (broadly defined), there is an increasing number of papers on hair development. The publications by the present team of authors are part of this trend.
Objectives: The aim of the study was to describe the topography and typology of skin pilosity patterns in human fetuses.
Material and methods: A total of 278 fetuses (141 male and 137 female) were qualified for the study. The gestational age ranged from 69 to 226 days after conception. All fetuses were taken from a local collection.
Results: The study revealed that the first single hairs occur on the posterior wall of the trunk in the 17th week of fetal life, and on the anterior wall between the 18th and 19th week. It was found that in human fetuses lanugo appears statistically significantly later on the skin of the anterior of the trunk than on its posterior. The difference in absolute time is almost 2 weeks of fetal life. No other differences were found in the development cycle of lanugo on the anterior and posterior walls of the trunk. A full pattern was first observed on the posterior wall of the trunk in a fetus in the 19th week, and on the anterior wall in the 21st week. It was found that the process of lanugo development was completed on the posterior wall in the 23rd week, and on the surface of the abdomen in the 26th week.
Conclusions: The lanugo developmental cycle, consisting in the appearance of the first single hairs, then partial hair and subsequently the formation of final patterns, is the same on both walls of the trunk.
Keywords: hair development; hair pattern; human fetuses; lanugo.