Acné Excoriée des Jeunes Filles

Abstract

This pedantic title literally means excoriated acne of young girls. However, it is not clear that all the patients have acne. The acne in any case is not the substantive component. The disorder usually begins in adolescence when the victim can usually locate a comedo or minor inflammatory lesion which becomes the object of vicious scratching. The skin is gouged out with the fingernails leaving broad, shallow, linear scars preceded by a variable degree of crusting. It is important to be able to differentiate self-induced scars from those produced by the disease.