Korean J Dermatol.
2021 Feb;59(2):114-117.
Diagnostic Efficacy of Dermoscopy for Acute Diffuse and Total Alopecia: A 30-Case Study
- Affiliations
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- 1Department of Dermatology, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, Kyung Hee University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
Abstract
- Background
Acute diffuse and total alopecia (ADTA) is characterized by rapid hair loss and rapid recovery without treatment. If a non-invasive method such as dermoscopy can identify ADTA, clinicians will be able to diagnose ADTA faster and reassure patients.
Objective
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of ADTA using dermoscopy.
Methods
Patients with ADTA diagnosed by clinical and histological findings from October 2016 to November 2019 were examined by dermoscopy during their first visit to the Department of Dermatology at Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong.
Results
Among 300 lesions observed via dermoscopy, yellow dots or black dots were observed in 225 (75.0%) and 240 (80.0%) lesions, respectively. Short vellus hairs or broken hairs were seen in 231 (77.0%) and 190 (63.3%) lesions, respectively. Exclamation mark hairs appeared in only 71 lesions (23.7%).
Conclusion
In this study, yellow dots, black dots, broken hairs, short vellus hairs, and exclamation mark hairs were observed in the ADTA cases as well as in previously reported Alopecia areata (AA) studies. These results could be due to the characteristic rapid disease progression of ADTA. Exclamation mark hairs are known to take a few weeks that the transformation of an anagen hair bulb to a club shape of exclamation mark hairs of alopecia areata. Therefore, exclamation mark hairs might be less commonly found at the very early stage of ADTA. There are some limitations in this study. The number of subjects was small, and we did not set up a control group for comparison.
