Syphilitic alopecia in HIV infected homosexual men: case reports.

Hair loss is an uncommon manifestation of secondary syphilis. Its clinical manifestations include diffuse effluvium or patchy ‘moth-eaten’ pattern of alopecia. Although syphilitic alopecia is non-scarring hair loss often associated with other mucocutaneous lesions of secondary syphilis, it might well be the only presenting symptom of syphilis. Secondary syphilis was diagnosed in ten homosexual men who attended the City Institute for Skin and Venereal Diseases in Belgrade from January to October 2010, among them three patients were HIV positive. Syphilitic alopecia was detected in two of these three patients, both HIV positive receiving antiretroviral therapy and with the ‘moth-eaten’ pattern of hair loss, presented herein.