Diffuse Lichen Planopilaris Masquerading as Diffuse Alopecia Areata

This review reports no new clinical results but discusses fibrosing alopecia in a pattern distribution as a distinct scarring alopecia with characteristics of both androgenetic alopecia and lichen planopilaris.

This study reviewed 40 patients with scalp symptoms and identified a new variant of diffuse lichen planopilaris in 20 individuals, suggesting these conditions should be considered in similar cases.

In a study reviewing 291 patients with lichen planopilaris, findings revealed that women were more commonly affected than men, cyclosporine and methotrexate were most effective in achieving remission, and 5-alpha reductase inhibitors and systemic retinoids were particularly beneficial for frontal fibrosing alopecia.

This retrospective review found that while intralesional corticosteroids provided symptomatic improvement for lichen planopilaris, hydroxychloroquine with topical corticosteroids led to higher remission rates but did not result in visible hair regrowth.

This study found that eyelash loss, facial papules, and body hair involvement were linked to severe frontal fibrosing alopecia, and antiandrogens were the most effective treatment.

This study found that dermoscopy-guided scalp biopsies provided a definitive pathological diagnosis in 95% of patients with cicatricial alopecia.

In this study, key histologic features such as mucinous perifollicular fibroplasia were identified to aid in the diagnosis of lichen planopilaris.

This study reports that horizontal sections of scalp biopsies improve the diagnosis of alopecia areata, especially when characteristic inflammatory infiltrates are missing.

This study reports that some patients with androgenetic alopecia may also exhibit clinical and histological features of inflammation and fibrosis, similar to those found in lichen planopilaris.