A peculiar condition involving the bearded part of the face and neck is present in a considerable percentage of Negro men but has attracted little attention in the medical literature.
CLINICAL PICTURE
The fully developed picture is seen in the middle-aged or older men. Usually the skin of the lower part of the cheeks is affected most, but the changes may extend to the chin, the sides of the neck and the upper regions of the cheeks, in the order named.There are numerous superficial crisscross grooves, each from 1 to 3 mm. long and a little wider than a hair's breadth. Many of these grooves contain a hair which lies in them parallel to the surface of the skin. Other grooves are empty and have the appearance of superficial scars. In between, and usually more frequent along the rim of the mandible and on the sides of the neck,