Vertical Striated Sandpaper Nails

To the Editor.—  In a general sense, 25 years ago Alkiewicz¹ and, recently, Achten and Wanet-Rouard² described rough nails under the title "Trachyonychie."In a study soon to be published in the Annales de Dermatologie et Syphiligraphie, we report on a number of cases of rough nails that are suggestive of an expression of alopecia areata and bear a clinical similarity to the cases reported by Drs Hazelrigg, Duncan, and Jarratt in their article "Twenty-Nail Dystrophy of Childhood" (Archives 113:73-75, 1977). The descriptive term l'ongle grésé peladique (vertical striated sandpaper nails) is offered (Figure). This entity, observed in both children and adults, may involve all 20 nails.