Abstract
The diagnosis of alopecia can be challenging, usually the doctor needs clinicopathological correlation to achieve the correct diagnosis. Sometimes, more than one hair disease can coexist, making accurate diagnosis even more difficult. The alopecias are divided by scarring and nonscarring alopecias, by dermoscopy or histopathology issues. This basic differentiation is important to understanding why some alopecia can improve after treatment and others not. It is crucial to remember that there are alopecias caused by infections problems or inflammatory scalp diseases, such as fungus infections and psoriasis, for example.
In this chapter, the hair shaft disorders and infections and inflammatory scalp diseases will be reviewed first, followed by a discussion of the acquired nonscarring alopecias and the primary cicatricial alopecias.
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Abbreviations
- AA:
-
Alopecia areata
- AGA:
-
Androgenetic alopecia
- ATE:
-
Acute telogen effluvium
- CCCA:
-
Central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia
- CTE:
-
Chronic telogen effluvium
- DC:
-
Dissecting cellulitis
- DHT:
-
Dihydrotestosterone
- DLE:
-
Discoid lupus erythematosus
- FAPD:
-
Fibrosing alopecia in a pattern distribution
- FD:
-
Folliculitis decalvans
- FFA:
-
Frontal fibrosing alopecia
- FPHL:
-
Female pattern hair loss
- LGLPS:
-
Lassueur Graham-Little Piccardi Syndrome
- LPP:
-
Lichen planopilaris
- SD:
-
Seborrheic dermatitis
- TA:
-
Traction alopecia
- TE:
-
Telogen effluvium
- TTD:
-
Trichothiodystrophy
- TTM:
-
Trichotillomania
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Glossary
- Effluvium
-
Shedding of hair.
- Endothrix infection
-
Dermatophyte infections of the hair that invade the hair shaft and internalize into the hair cell. The hair shaft is filled with fungal branches (hyphae) and spores (arthroconidia). Endothrix infections do not fluoresce with Wood’s light.
- Pityriasis amiantacea
-
A scalp condition that causes scaling and can occur in patches anywhere on the scalp. It is an eczematous condition of the scalp resulting in hair loss, whereby thick adherent scale infiltrates and surrounds the base of a group of scalp hairs.
- Psoriasiform acanthosis
-
The presence of evenly elongated, thin rete ridges with equally long dermal papillae.
- Trichotillomania
-
A disorder that involves recurrent, irresistible urges to pull out hair from the scalp, eyebrows, or other areas of the body, despite trying to stop. Hair pulling from the scalp often leaves patchy bald spots.
- Trichoscopy
-
Hair and scalp dermoscopy. May be performed with a handheld dermoscope. This makes it a modern, noninvasive technique.
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Martins, G., Doche, I., Freitag, L.A., Miteva, M., Damasco, P. (2023). Alopecia. In: Rangel Bonamigo, R. (eds) Dermatology in Public Health Environments. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13505-7_73
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