Imposters of Androgenetic Alopecia

This article discusses the importance of recognizing hair loss conditions that can be mistaken for androgenetic alopecia (AGA), including cicatricial alopecias such as lichen planopilaris (LPP), frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA), pseudopelade of Brocq, folliculitis decalvans, and central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia (CCCA). The document provides information on the clinical presentation, histology, and treatment options for each of these conditions. The article emphasizes the importance of recognizing warning signs such as perifollicular erythema, shiny alopecia, yellow dots, unexplained pruritis and burning, and exclamation mark hairs to identify AGA imposters. The use of polarized light with magnification can ease the recognition of these signs. Physicians who are not comfortable looking for these features may consider routinely performing a scalp biopsy to rule out such imposters of androgenetic alopecia definitively.