The Usefulness of Dermoscopy in Canine Pattern Alopecia: A Descriptive Study

The 2016 study investigated the effectiveness of dermoscopy in diagnosing canine pattern alopecia, involving 30 dogs with the condition and 30 healthy controls. Dermoscopic examination revealed specific features in affected dogs, such as hair shaft thinning, circle hairs, follicular keratin plugs, and a honeycomb-like pigmentation pattern, while arborizing red lines were found to be nonspecific. The study also noted breed-specific patterns of hair thinning and confirmed these findings with histological examination, showing a correlation between dermoscopic and histological features. The conclusion was that dermoscopy is a useful tool for the clinical examination of canine pattern alopecia and could assist in identifying diagnostic patterns for other skin disorders.