Alopecia: a systematic appraoch to diagnosis and therapy

Alopecia is a difficult problem for the physician. It is a common reason for specialist referral because of frustration with the complexities of etiology, the impatience of the patient, and often some uneasiness of diagnosis in the mind of the physician. The concern for possible serious underlying causes, and the relative expense required to rule these out also play an important role in the early referral of these cases. The vast majority of these cases do not reflect serious disease and so do not require expensive work-ups. Trhough a systematized approach, they can be easily taken care of by the patient's primary physician. This paper presents a practical approach for the busy physician to deal with this problem quickly and easily in a systematic manner that minimizes the possibility of overlooking serious problems and defines the level of investigation necessary in most cases.