Tufted Hair Folliculitis: A Case Report

Tufted hair folliculitis (THF) is a recurrent and progressive folliculitis of the scalp that resolves with irregular areas of scarring alopecia within which numerous hair tufts emerge from dilated follicular openings. A 14-year-old female presented with pruritic, inflammatory and exudating wounds on the scalp which appeared ten years ago. Dermatological examination revealed tufts of 10 to 15 apparently normal hair shafts in a sclerotic plaque measuring 15x25 cm on the parieto-occipital region of the scalp that emerge through dilated follicular openings. The patient was diagnosed by histopathological examination as having THF. Oral rifampicin 600 mg/day, cephalexin 1500 mg/day and vitamin C 1000 mg/day for 3 weeks were not effective, then, he was treated with isotretinoin 0.6 mg/kg/day for six months. The inflammation and exudation decreased by this treatment while hair tufting was persisting. We report this case since THF is rarely encountered disease and is difficult to be treated