Lichen Planopilaris in Men: A Retrospective Clinicopathologic Study of 19 Patients

The retrospective cohort study examined 19 male patients with Lichen planopilaris (LPP) treated at Mayo Clinic from 1992 to 2016, revealing that LPP typically manifested in men with diffuse or vertex scalp involvement, with the most common symptoms being perifollicular erythema (94.7%) and pruritus (57.9%). Additionally, 26.3% of the patients also had androgenetic alopecia, 21.1% had mucosal lichen planus, and 15.8% had thyroid disease. Treatment led to disease improvement in 47.3% of the cases using various therapies, including topical and systemic treatments, topical clobetasol, or minocycline. The study suggested that LPP's clinical and histologic features in men are similar to those in women, but nonscalp hair loss is less common in men with classic LPP. However, the study's conclusions are limited by the small sample size, inconsistent follow-up, and retrospective design without standardized clinical assessment.