After searching for on the Web for some time I was very interested to come across the description of a 'mysterious hair infection' posted on this forum back in 2004:
http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Dermatology/messages/32683.html
From the description, this sounds like the same condition that I am experiencing: The hairs have a firm milky translucent rubbery sheath that starts at the root and extends about 1/8" up the shaft ending just below the surface of the skin. At their worst the sheaths are up to 2.5 to 3.5 times the width of the hair itself. The sheath can be separated from the shaft with the aid of tweezers. In a few cases removal of the hair results in a spot of blood appearing. It is generally not evident that anything is wrong just by looking at the surface of the hair covered skin. I In my case I am not sure if the condition is spreading to adjoining hairs, though I have found groups of similar hairs, as well as those individually affected.
I do experience occasional spots, and although there will sometimes be an affected hair in the center I'm not sure if this is cause, the effect, or completely unrelated. Since I only discovered this condition recently I'm also not sure of the affect of removing an affected hair, although I am beginning to suspect that the new hair is also affected.
I note from the 2004 post that no diagnosis or treatment was suggested. Perhaps knowledge of this condition has changed since then?
I note that back in 2004
This discussion is related to
mysterious hair infection.