Abnormal Hairs Point to Severe Deficiency

An elderly man's puzzling symptoms are as old as humanity itself

By Robert A Norman
Jan 2, 2005 6:00 AMNov 12, 2019 6:52 AM

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“So you smoke and drink, correct?” I asked.

The patient was a 71-year-old man with a bit of shine still left in his bright blue eyes. He gazed at me with slight indignation.

“I overdo the bottle,” he conceded. He said he drank 10 to 12 beers and smoked a pack and a half of unfiltered cigarettes a day.

“You live by yourself?”

“Yeah, except I sometimes have lady visitors over.”

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