Evaluation of Clinical Significance of Dermoscopy in Alopecia Areata

Alopecia areata (AA) is a common, chronic inflammatory disease characterized by nonscarring hair loss on the scalp or any hair-bearing area of the body. Recently, dermoscopy, a noninvasive diagnostic procedure, has been employed for the diagnosis of AA.

To evaluate various dermoscopic patterns in AA and correlate these patterns with the disease activity and severity.

Dermoscopy was performed on AA patients using DL1 dermoscope (magnification ×10 was used). The dermoscopic patterns recorded were analyzed to identify any correlation with the disease activity and severity.

A total of fifty patients of AA were recruited in the study. Female outnumbered males with the ratio being 1.173:1. Mean age of the patients was 25.06 years. Mean duration of disease was 14 months. The most common site involved was scalp (80%) and type noted was patchy (84%). Various dermoscopic patterns noted were yellow dots (YD) (88%), short vellus hair (66%), black dots (BD) (58%), broken hairs (BHs) (56%), tapering hair (TH) (26%), Coudability hairs (14%), pigtail hair (14%), and Pohl-Pinkus constrictions (2%). Statistically significant correlation was observed between BD, BHs, THs, and disease activity. No significant correlation was found between severity and any of the dermoscopic features.

The most common dermoscopic pattern in our study was YD. Presence of BDs, BHs, and THs indicate active disease. Dermoscopic patterns were not affected by severity of the disease.