Large acquired nevocytic nevi induced by the Koebner phenomenon.

A patient with characteristic clinical, histopathological, ultrastructural and family history of epidermolysis bullosa simplex (EBS) developed large acquired nevocytic nevi at the sites of some healing blisters. An isomorphic reaction may have initiated the development of these nevi. Such large acquired nevi should be considered in the differential diagnosis of large and giant congenital nevi which have the potential to evolve into malignant melanoma.

Woolly hair nevus. Two case reports and a discussion of unruly hair forms.

Woolly hair is very curly hair that is characteristically unruly and will not form naturally into locks. Woolly hair nevus first appears when the scalp hair begins to grow. It is seen as a patch of unruly, very curly hair, arising in a field of otherwise unremarkable scalp hair. Woolly hair can also be seen as a hereditary trait involving the entire scalp and in acquired forms. It may be distinguished from two other types of unruly hair, pili torti and spun glass hair.

Multiple glomus tumors.

A man had widespread, slowly evolving vascular lesions since infancy suggestive of the Blue Rubber Bleb Nevus Syndrome. His son had two painless lesions typical of Multiple Glomus Tumors. Many of the man's nodular lesions were painful. Post-excision recurrences were noted. Histologic studies of asymptomatic tumors from both cases showed irregular, dilated, vascular channels surrounded by narrow mantles of glomus cells, whereas a painful tumor had large foci of glomus cells with wider mantles around the flattened channels. Electron microscopy showed the glomus cells to be modified smooth muscle cells. The anatomy and pathology of glomus tumors are reviewed. Differentiation from other syndromes of multiple hemangiomata, particularly the Blue Rubber Bleb Nevus Syndrome is stressed. It is suggested that Multiple Glomus Tumors may be derived from simple cutaneous vessels and not the Sucquet-Hoyer canal of the normal cutaneous glomus body described by Masson in 1924.

A new technique for cross sectioning free hairs.

A new method of sectioning hair specimens has been devised that employs Araldite as an embedding medium. This has greater rigidity than paraffin and eliminates the possibility of compression on sectioning with resultant distortion of the hair shaft. Semithin sections could be sectioned at the perpendicular and examined with phase contrast optics. By correlating the cross section with the longitudinal position of the hair shaft within this translucent medium, exact cross sections of various hair types could be obtained.