Utility of Horizontal Sections of Scalp Biopsies in Differentiating Between Androgenetic Alopecia and Alopecia Areata

January 2018 in “ Dermatology ”

Deepika Yadav, Sujay Khandpur, M Ramam, Manoj K. Singh, Vinod Sharma

androgenetic alopecia alopecia areata anagen:non-anagen hair ratio pigment casts horizontal sections scalp biopsies miniaturization of hair follicles peribulbar inflammation anagen catagen telogen AGA AA

TLDR Scalp biopsies help tell apart androgenetic alopecia and alopecia areata.

This study aimed to differentiate between androgenetic alopecia (AGA) and alopecia areata (AA) using horizontal sections of scalp biopsies. The study found that a lower anagen:non-anagen hair ratio and the presence of pigment casts in transverse sections of scalp biopsies favored AA over AGA. The study concluded that horizontal sections of scalp biopsies can be useful in differentiating between AGA and AA. The study also found that miniaturization of hair follicles was a common feature in both conditions, but significantly greater miniaturization was found in AA than AGA. Peribulbar inflammation was seen in significantly greater biopsies in AA than AGA. The anagen:non-anagen (catagen/telogen) ratio was also found to be an important quantitative histological feature.

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