[Acquired paraneoplastic hypertrichosis lanuginosa associated with scleroderma]

Acquired hypertrichosis lanuginosa is universally recognized as an individual disease and seldom reported as a genuine paraneoplastic manifestation. We report the case of a 30-year old woman with acquired hypertrichosis lanuginosa. Due to the finding of a cervical lymph node metastasis, she was investigated for an internal neoplasm, but the original tumour could not be found by the usual methods. A bronchogenic carcinoma was discovered at autopsy. Beside hypertrichosis, this patient had other disorders not described in the literature as associated with that disease, viz.: progressive systemic scleroderma, fissured and hyperpigmented tongue, thrombocytopenia, galactorrhoea, axillary and pubic alopecia and overcurvature of toe nails. A review of similar cases in the literature provided clinical arguments in favour of the hormonal origin of this paraneoplastic hypertrichosis.