Epidemiology and Pathogenesis of Lichen Planopilaris in the Dermatology Clinic of Charité Berlin

The study focused on the epidemiology and pathogenesis of Lichen planopilaris (LPP), a scarring alopecia, by analyzing 104 patient records from the Charité Dermatology Clinic between January 2009 and March 2011. It identified several factors associated with LPP, such as age, female predominance, Fitzpatrick skin types I-III, postmenopausal status in frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA), and skin changes related to Lichen ruber. Notably, there was a higher incidence of hormone replacement therapy use among FFA patients and a potential link to autoimmune diseases like vitiligo and alopecia areata. The study suggested developing a standardized data collection form for LPP patients and highlighted the lack of evidence-based treatment guidelines, advocating for future systematic therapy-related data collection to support prospective studies and establish standardized treatment protocols.