For a number of years I have been puzzled by a not uncommon disease of the scalp of which I could neither find a published description nor obtain a satisfactory explanation when I questioned colleagues in regard to it.
The symptoms are always the same. The patients complain of itching of the scalp, which recurs at short intervals, and which is intense enough to be a considerable annoyance. Some patients complain only of the itching, but most of them volunteer the information that small "lumps" have appeared in various locations. Examination of the scalp discloses isolated, minute scabs, rarely larger than the head of a pin and often smaller. These lesions are usually few; there may be only two or three of them, and I have rarely seen more than a dozen at any one time. The lesions are located at the opening of the hair follicles. For a long