No abstract

Clinical management of alopecia represents one of the major issues in dermatology. Scalp biopsies are not easily accepted because of the high bleeding and sensitive anatomical area. Trichoscopy is routinely used for diagnosis of alopecia, but in several cases lack to provide sufficient information on the status of the disease. Recently, reflectance confocal microscopy demonstrated its usefulness for the evaluation of several inflammatory skin condition and preliminary reports about alopecia have been proposed in the literature. The aim was to identify the confocal features characterizing scarring and non-scarring alopecia. Reflectance confocal microscopy from 86 patients affected by scarring (28 lichen planopilaris and 9 lupus erythematosus) and non-scarring alopecia (30 androgenic alopecia and 19 alopecia areata), were retrospectively, blinded evaluated. Good concordance between different readers on the confocal criteria has been assessed. Statistical significant features, specific for scarring alopecia and non-scarring alopecia have been identified. In this study, data on reflectance confocal microscopy features useful for the differential diagnosis between scarring and non-scarring alopecia have been identified. Further studies focusing on the use of this non-invasive technique in the therapeutic follow-up and distinction of sub-entities of alopecia are still required.

This case shows that skin color may affect dermoscopic findings in alopecia areata. In our African-American patient with alopecia areata dermoscopy showed a diffuse honeycomb-like pigmented network, which was previously considered characteristic for androgenic alopecia and white dots, which were considered characteristic for cicatricial alopecia. Further studies are needed to elucidate the presence of white dots in alopecia areata.

No abstract

BACKGROUND: Trichotillomania and patchy alopecia areata have similar clinical and dermoscopic features. OBSERVATIONS: In trichotillomania, dermoscopy shows decreased hair density, short vellus hair, broken hairs with different shaft lengths, coiled hairs, short vellus hair, trichoptilosis, sparse yellow dots, which may or may not contain black dots and no exclamation mark hairs. CONCLUSIONS: In the case of patchy alopecia and broken hairs, the absence of exclamation mark hairs suggests a diagnosis of trichotillomania. On the other hand, the finding of yellow dots without black dots does not exclude it. Keywords: Alopecia; Anxiety disorders; Dermoscopy; Differential Diagnosis; Nail biting Resumo: INTRODUÇÃO: Tricotilomania e alopecia areata em placa possuem características clínicas e dermatoscópicas semelhantes. OBSERVAÇÕES: O exame dermatoscópico da tricotilomania revela densidade capilar diminuída, cabelos fraturados em diferentes tamanhos, enovelados e vellus, tricoptilose, pontos amarelos com ou sem pontos pretos e ausência de cabelos em "ponto de exclamação". CONCLUSÃO: No contexto de alopecia em placa e cabelos fraturados, a ausência de "pontos de exclamação" sugere o diagnóstico de tricotilomania. Por outro lado, o achado de pontos amarelos sem pontos pretos não afasta o mesmo.

No abstract

We describe a 56-year-old Brazilian woman presenting three nodular lesions on the scalp. Dermoscopy of all lesions showed a creamy-white body with central bird's feet-like structures surrounded by a thorn crown, corresponding to the posterior segment of the Dermatobia hominis larvae. These novel dermoscopic features allowed us to easily diagnose furuncular myiasis.

IMPORTANCEA recent expert consensus exercise emphasized the importance of developing a global network of patient registries for alopecia areata to redress the paucity of comparable, real-world data regarding the effectiveness and safety of existing and emerging therapies for alopecia areata.OBJECTIVE To generate core domains and domain items for a global network of alopecia areata patient registries.EVIDENCE REVIEW Sixty-six participants, representing physicians, patient organizations, scientists, the pharmaceutical industry, and pharmacoeconomic experts, participated in a 3-round eDelphi process, culminating in a face-to-face meeting at the World Congress of Dermatology,