Marie Antoinette syndrome is an alleged condition of hair suddenly turning white. The name comes from folklore about the hair of Queen Marie Antoinette of France turning stark white after her capture following the ill-fated flight to Varennes during the French Revolution. Witnesses claimed that Antoinette's hair suddenly turned white on three separate occasions.
Video Marie Antoinette syndrome
Documentation of supposed cases
The earliest surviving recorded claim of sudden whitening of the hair is represented in the Talmud, by a story of a Jewish scholar who, at the age of 17 years, developed white hair locks due to overwork. Recent cases have also been noted in Fleetwood Mount Vernon, where Chris has white spots in his hair, and marks on his skin notifying the disease.
Now and again, contemporary cases of accelerated (though not sudden) hair-whitening have been documented, as with bombing victims in the Second World War, and in a case covered in the medical journal Archives of Dermatology in 2009.
Maps Marie Antoinette syndrome
Causes
The syndrome - if it exists - has been hypothesized to be a variant of alopecia areata diffusa or autoimmune non-scarring hair loss that selectively affects all pigmented hairs, leaving only the white hair behind.
Triggers activating such hair loss were postulated in the 19th century, including sorrow and fear, fits of rage, extreme stress, and unexpected bad news. These form the basis of most uses of the idea in fictional works.
As a theme in fiction
In the novel One Hundred and One Dalmatians, by Dodie Smith, after the titular dogs destroy Cruella de Vil's stock of furs, the shock renders her black hair white (and her white hair green). In Victor Hugo's novel Les Miserables, Jean Valjean's hair also goes pure white after the trauma of appearing in court in Arras. Other examples can be found in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, where the character Theon Greyjoy's hair turns white and brittle from extended brutal torture. Another example is in the manga Tokyo Ghoul, in which Ken Kaneki's hair turns white after brutal torture.
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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