Vet Rec 1988 Nov 19;123(21):533-536

Bouvet A, Baird JD, Basrur PK

A three-week old male Charolais calf which had a history of progressive hair loss and clinical signs, including crusts and brown patches similar to those in folic acid deficiency syndrome in man, was subjected to folic acid therapy. Daily oral administration of folic acid (1 mg/kg/day) resulted in the gradual disappearance of the crusts and patches within two weeks and a steady growth of hair and recovery to a normal state within two months. Folic acid, which is required for cellular turnover in a variety of tissues and organs including the hair follicle, may serve as an effective therapeutic agent in some types of alopecia triggered by a deficiency of either folic acid or the co-enzymes involved in the synthetic pathway of DNA.

PMID: 3206804, UI: 89085562

Hair and fingernail changes in acquired and congenital pernicious anemia

Arch Intern Med 1985-3-1 145(3) 484-5

R. Carmel

Pigmentation changes limited to skin appendages accompanied pernicious anemia in four patients. Two Latin-American patients, one with congenital and one with acquired pernicious anemia, had reddish hair while they were cobalamin deficient. With treatment, the new hair growth assumed its normal premorbid dark brown color. Two black patients with pernicious anemia had blue fingernails. The new nail growth after treatment was of normal color. Pigmentation changes seem to be more frequent in nonwhite than in white patients with cobalamin deficiency and may have various expressions.