Invisible bleeding from clean-shave haircuts: detection with blood specific RNA markers.

Background: 'Haircut-associated bleeding' is a newly recognized entity that affects at least a quarter of African men who wear shiny clean-shave ('chiskop') haircuts.

Aim: This pilot study aimed to elucidate whether invisible haircut-associated bleeding was detectable using blood specific RNA markers (16 participants, 5 with unknown HIV status) and whether surface virus could be detected using PCR from scalp swabs (of 11 known HIV-positive participants).

Methods: Haircuts were performed professionally and scalps examined by a dermatologist to exclude injury.