Perifolliculitis capitis abscedens et suffodiens is a chronic inflammatory disease of the scalp characterized by the presence of large and small nodules which suppurate and intercommunicate by sinus formation. It occurs most frequently on the vertex and occiput and is predominantly a disease of males.
It is a condition renowned for its resistance to therapy. Even in this age of potent antimicrobial therapy the disease is still very difficult to manage. Because of our knowledge of the fundamental importance of drainage in abortion of infection and the observation that folliculitis of the bearded areas at times does not respond to antibiotic therapy unless drainage is established by manual epilation, it occurred to us that perhaps temporary epilation induced by irradiation might have a similar favorable effect upon this disease.
The following are case reports of four patients successfully treated by this modality after the