A prospective real‐world study evaluating serum levels of arginine and cysteine in women with chronic telogen effluvium: do we really need blanket prescription of amino acid supplementation?

Amino acids form a major component of hair fibres and are prescribed routinely in the form of nutritional supplements in patients with chronic telogen effluvium (CTE). Such a practice is based on assumption of a nutritional deficiency state in such patients. In this prospective study, we evaluated the serum levels of cysteine and arginine in 30 women with CTE and in healthy controls. We found no significant difference between the two groups in terms of serum arginine levels. Cysteine levels were higher in patients with CTE (P