Lichen Planopilaris is a Common Scarring Alopecia among Iraqi Population*

Copyright © 2013 Khalifa E. Sharquie et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution Li-cense, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background: Scarring alopecia like discoid lupus erythematosus, lichenplanopilaris and scarring folliculitis are com-mon skin problems where differentiations between them are often difficult in many cases. Objective: To report, study and evaluate cases of lichen planopilaris and characterize the different clinical points in favor of this disease. Patients and Methods: This case series descriptive study was done at Department of Dermatology-Baghdad Teaching Hospital from January 2010 to November 2012. Sixty seven patients were included where histological and dermatological ex-aminations were carried out to all patients regarding all relevant points related to the disease. Punch biopsies were per-formed from ten patients for histopathological study. Results: The mean age of onset of the disease was 36.7 ± 5 years with a mean duration of the disease being 4.4 ± 3 years. The male to female ratio was 1.4:1. The characteristic lesions were pigmented scarring moth eaten alopecia surrounded by pigmented hyperkeratotic follicular papules involving mainly the fronto-vertical and parietal scalp. Conclusions: Lichen planopilaris is a common cause of scalp scarring alopecia in adult and it has many characteristic clinical features which can facilitate differentiation from other patho-logic scalp conditions like discoid lupus erythematosus