Severe Onycholysis in a Card Illusionist with Alopecia Areata Universalis
We report the case of Mario, an eccentric 23-year-old man, a card illusionist who had alopecia areata (AA) universalis for the last 15 years. He had accepted his hair loss and was not seeking treatment for it. In January 2007, he consulted us because he developed severe abnormalities of all his fingernails.\nAt clinical examination, the fingernails were yellow – gray colored and showed severe onycholysis, involving the whole nail plate and nail bed hyperkeratosis []. The patient asked for treatment as the nail changes did not permit him to continue his work as card illusionist. He was treated with intramuscolar triamcinolone acetonide 0.5 mg/kg/month, for 3 months []. The nails improved rapidly with complete return to normality after 6 months. However, the 1-year follow-up revealed mild recurrence of nail symptoms.