Perifollicular inflammation and follicular spongiosis in androgenetic alopecia
February 2022
in “Journal of The American Academy of Dermatology”
TLDR Hair loss in both Androgenetic Alopecia and Alopecia Areata is often accompanied by inflammation around hair follicles, but the location and severity of this inflammation varies.
The study conducted a retrospective review of 96 scalp biopsy specimens from patients with Androgenetic Alopecia (AGA) and Alopecia Areata (AA) from 2014 to 2019. The results showed that perifollicular lymphocytic infiltrates were present in most specimens (87.9% AGA, 81.6% AA), with no significant difference in incidence. However, AGA specimens were more likely to exhibit infundibular (58.6% vs 36.8%) and isthmic (79.3% vs 55.3%) infiltrates and less likely to demonstrate peribulbar infiltrates (0.0% vs 63.2%). The degree of inflammation did not differ significantly between the two groups. Follicular spongiosis was observed in 29.3% of AGA and 42.1% of AA cases. The study suggests that the association of inflammation with miniaturized follicles could indicate a possible mechanistic relationship, but larger, sex-matched studies are needed to confirm this.
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