Generalized Hair-Follicle Hamartoma

The document described a unique syndrome of progressive baldness caused by a distinctive hamartoma of the hair follicle. The patient exhibited symptoms including myasthenia gravis, an enlarged sella turcica, an abnormal urinary amino acid pattern, and was suspected of having lupus erythematosus. Initially diagnosed as alopecia universalis, multiple skin biopsies later identified a basal cell hamartoma in each hair follicle. Histochemical and electron microscopic studies revealed the tumor's epithelial cell characteristics. The study highlighted the importance of skin biopsy in diagnosing alopecia of unknown origin and suggested that further research into abnormal ectodermal tissues could offer insights into hair keratin defects.