Sarcoidosis as a cause of patchy alopecia.

Abstract

Most dermatological textbooks do not mention sarcoidosis as a cause of patchy alopecia. Behrman1and Savill2state that nodular sarcoidosis may affect the scalp, particularly in women, and that the nodules tend to heal in the center, leaving depressed, cicatricial areas of baldness. We have recently observed three patients with patchy alopecia due to sarcoidosis. The diagnosis of sarcoidosis, in all the cases, was substantiated by clinical, immunological, laboratory, and histological examination. Case1.—A 41-year-old Negro woman complained of fatigue and migratory joint pains of one year's duration. She was born in Mississippi and had lived there until eight years previously. Examination revealed nodular and annular cutaneous lesions involving the right cheek and right frontal area of the forehead, with atrophic areas distributed over the scalp. (Fig. 1). There was generalized lymphadenopathy and hepatosplenomegaly. Histological examination of a posterior cervical lymph node showed pathological findings