Alopecia Universalis, Onychodystrophy, and Total Vitiligo

Clinical study of nail changes in vitiligo

“…Alopecia areata and vitiligo have autoimmunity basis with evidence of abnormal immune responses in both diseases, especially the functional role of CD8+ T lymphocytes in their etiology and both of them are aggravated by psychological stress . Both diseases are also associated with each other and with other autoimmune diseases . The presence of nail changes in vitiligo in the current study together with previous reported nail changes with alopecia areata points to that both are two faces of one coin.…”

“…Previous few case reports were concerned with the association between vitiligo and nail changes such as twenty nail dystrophy (TND), red lunula, and onychodystophy …”

Coincidence of Vitiligo, Alopecia areata, Onychodystrophy, Localized Scleroderma and Lichen planus

“…An association between onychodystrophy and vitiligo with alopecia areata is also established [Christianson et al, 1956;Lerner, 1961;Demis and Weiner, 1963], Endocrine dysfunction which sometimes accompanies the vitiligo-alopecia areata complex [Lerner, 1959;Bor et ah, 1969] has been claimed to cause such nail changes via disturbance of the keratin formation. The present case does not support this hypothesis since clinical and endocrinologic evaluation failed to reveal hormonal imbalance.…”

Vitiligo and Other Hypomelanoses of Hair and Skin

“…With corticosteroid-corticotropin therapy this pigment dilution was reversed. The patients reported by Demis and Weiner [159] to have "alopecia universalis onychodystrophy and total vitiligo" really had more of a "generalized palor" than actual vitiligo. In fact, one of them still retained some ability to tan.…”