Alopecia, Congenital

Clinical Features

Anzai et al. (1996) described a Japanese family in which 3 boys in 3 separate sibships related as first cousins through the mother in each case had congenital alopecia or marked hypotrichosis. None of the 3 mothers had alopecia, but the maternal grandfather of the 3 affected boys had alopecia from birth. The eyebrows and eyelashes in all these patients were normal. Apart from the congenital alopecia of the scalp, there were no abnormalities of the skin, nails, or teeth. Sweating, heat tolerance, growth, and development were all normal. Skin biopsy from the scalp of 1 boy revealed a decreased number of atrophic hair follicles but normal eccrine glands.