Effect of Plaster of Paris on hair growth

[m_adil]

Hello Sir/Madam,
I recently registered for Google Science Fair. I had an idea in my mind to make a project on the above mentioned subject. Here I would like to explain what do I really want to make this project for alongwith some background information.
I had a surgery of my right leg (it was tendon or something related to that) about 5years ago. After that surgery, I had an orthopedic cast for almost a month. When it was taken off, I was surprised to see a some amount of hair on the part where it was plastered (from toe to knee).The amount of hairs on that leg in is even more than the one which was in natural condition. Mainly they are in between the toes and ankle (the upper side). I didn't think about this issue but since a few months I'm researching on this thing that could it be the effects of that orthopedic cast and the conditions provided to that part of the body where the hairs grew very rapidly. For one month, all this part was away from sunlight, no water on it and constantly attached with this cast (which is mainly CaSO4.2H2O)
This thing may sound silly/stupid but I am just curious about it that it could be the conditions which were provided to it. On other hand, it could be some hormonal imbalance too due to the surgery and my diet throughout that month.
Since this incident is some years ago so I dont have any actual calculations of how much my hair grew, their initial lengths etc. Any help regarding this matter would be appreciable. Also does this topic looks strong enough to stand in the competition?

[deleted-71536]

Hi m_adil,

Welcome to Science Buddies! You have a very interesting question, and it is quite relevant to modern medicine. To make it competitive for a science fair, you would need to come up with an experiment that could test at least one of your theories for why the hair grew under your cast.

First, you should start with some background research about hair growth. What factors affect hair growth in people? This Science Buddies project addresses the affects of humidity on hairs: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p020.shtml. Take a look at the background of that project for some good information about the basic structure of hairs.

I think your consideration of hormones is a good one, but would be very difficult to test for a science fair. This is a common phenomenon, and there have been studies about this (e.g., http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6939981). Another consideration would be blood flow.

Again, it could be difficult to come up with a controlled study for a science fair, but you could try making contacts with someone in the medical field to help you. Start by doing some background research on hair growth in general and the effects of casts in particular. Then think about what you might want to test.

Please post again (in this same thread) if you have more questions.

Heather