On prolonged administration quinacrine (Mepacrine: Atabrine) hydrochloride, sometimes produces greenish yellow fluorescence in the nails, skin, and mucous membranes.* Recently we observed green fluorescence of scalp hairs in a patient receiving quinacrine hydrochloride for chronic discoid lupus erythematosus.
REPORT OF A CASE
A 54-year-old Negro woman consulted us in May, 1953, because of several circumscribed areas of alopecia, in which there were erythema, scaling, infiltration, atrophy, and accentuation of follicular orifices. Treatment was instituted with quinacrine, 100 mg. three times daily. Two weeks later a yellow tint of her skin was noticed, and she complained of pruritus of the scalp. Wood's light examination disclosed that the proximal 2 in. (5 cm.) of all the hairs on the vertex and occiput exhibited bright green fluorescence indistinguishable from that observed in cases of tinea capitis due to the Microsporum group (Figure). Direct KOH examination of hairs and cultures of hairs were negative