Remission of Goodpasture's syndrome after withdrawal of an unusual toxic.

A 19 year old girl working as a hairdresser developed a severe anemia due to occult pulmonary hemorrhage followed by anti-GBM glomerulonephritis with normal renal function. Withdrawal of the suspected toxic factor, products used for permanent waving, was followed by both clinical remission and disappearance of linear deposits of immunoglobin from the renal glomeruli. Anti-GBM antibodies were only detected in the serum after clinical healing. In a case of mild Goodpasture, careful search for a toxin and its withdrawal may be the first therapeutic step.