HYPOPIGMENTATION IN HEMODIALYSIS - ACQUIRED HAIR AND SKIN FAIRNESS INA UREMIC PATIENT UNDERGOING MAINTENANCE HEMODIALYSIS - CASE-REPORT AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

With recent advances in medicine, uremic patients are living longer wi th an improving quality of life. Several skin diseases have been repor ted in patients with chronic renal failure, and the opportunity has be en offered to elucidate newer cutaneous abnormalities among patients u ndergoing long-term hemodialysis. Hyperpigmentation was the most preva lent cutaneous abnormality observed in these patients, but hypopigment ation remains an exceptional event. We report here a case of a mainten ance hemodialysis patient with an acquired hair and skin fairness. Alt hough the true mechanism involved in this entity remains obscure, it c an be correlated with a disturbance of phenylalanine metabolism on the basis of the current knowledge.