[Generalized follicular mucinosis].

A patient with generalized follicular mucinosis is presented. On first attendance, the 63-year-old woman had been suffering from generalized pruritus for a year and from general loss of hair for 6 months. The pathognomonic histological features of follicular mucinosis in a histopathological examination of the skin allowed the diagnosis. The lack of a malignant dermal infiltrate and the rapid response to treatment with diamino-diphenylsulphone are, we feel, good prognostic indicators. The histology of alopecia mucinosa, its distinction from the other cutaneous forms of mucinosis by the limitation of mucinous change to the pilosebaceous follicles and the classification of follicular mucinosis into three clinical and prognostic patterns are discussed. The possibility that more widespread disease might be associated with an overt cutaneous lymphoma (mycosis fungoides) is emphasized.