Genetics of hairy ears in south Indians.

Of 500 individuals screened at the Out-Patient Clinic, Mycology Section of the Department of Dermatology, Government General Hospital, Madras, 83 adult males (16.6%) and two adult females (0.4%) had hairy ears. Family study in five probands (three males and two females) suggests an autosomal-dominant sex-limited inheritance of this entity, probably linked to the genes for beard hairs, which is peculiar to males in South India and Sri Lanka. There has been an increased incidence of diabetes mellitus in the affected group. A control study made in a similar population of 1030 (680 male and 350 female) individuals attending the general medical and surgical out-patient clinics revealed hairy ears in 23.1% (237 male adults and one female adult).