Comparative Histopathological Analyses of Non-Scarring Alopecia in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patients in Lagos, Nigeria
March 2023
in “
Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice
”
TLDR The main difference in hair loss for lupus patients is smaller and fewer sebaceous glands.
This study investigated the histopathological features of non-scarring alopecia in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients in Lagos, Nigeria, analyzing 58 scalp biopsies from 23 SLE patients (12 with alopecia and 11 without). It found that SLE patients with hair loss exhibited epidermal atrophy, lymphocytic infiltration, reduced size and number of sebaceous glands, pigment incontinence, and mucin deposition. The only significant difference between patients with and without hair loss was the size and number of sebaceous glands. No significant differences were found between alopecic and non-alopecic scalp areas within the same patients. The study concludes that non-scarring hair loss in SLE is associated with specific histopathological changes, but these changes do not differ significantly between affected and unaffected scalp areas in the same individual.