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Alopecia

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Dermatology in Public Health Environments

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Abstract

The diagnosis of alopecia can be challenging. Usually the physician needs clinicopathologic correlation to achieve the correct diagnosis and sometimes more than one hair disease can coexist, complicating further the precise diagnosis. Alopecias are divided into scarring and nonscarring forms, from a clinical, dermoscopy, and histopathologic perspective. This basic differentiation is very important for understanding why, in some cases, the hair loss does not improve despite of the correct treatment. It is important to remember that alopecias can also be caused by infections and inflammation of the scalp, including fungal and bacterial infections and psoriasis. In this chapter, hair shaft disorders, infections, and inflammatory scalp diseases are reviewed, followed by a discussion of the acquired nonscarring alopecias and the primary cicatricial alopecias.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Irmandade Santa Casa de Misericódia de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brasil

    Giselle Martins

  2. University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    Isabella Doche

  3. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Isabella Doche

  4. Private Clinic, Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

    Laura Freitag

  5. Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery, University of Miami, Miami, USA

    Maria Miteva

  6. Dermatology, Hospital Regional Asa Norte/Private Office, Brasilia, Brazil

    Patricia Damasco

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  1. Giselle Martins
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  2. Isabella Doche
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  3. Laura Freitag
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  4. Maria Miteva
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  5. Patricia Damasco
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Correspondence to Giselle Martins .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dermatology Service of Clinical, Hospital of Porto Alegre, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Renan Rangel Bonamigo

  2. Health Secretary of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

    Sergio Ivan Torres Dornelles

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 Woods 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., Miteva, M., Damasco, P. (2018). Alopecia. In: Bonamigo, R., Dornelles, S. (eds) Dermatology in Public Health Environments. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33919-1_68

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