Reflectance Confocal Microscopy Applied to Folliculitis Decalvans: Preliminary Results of a Multicenter Study

Abstract

Although trichoscopic criteria indicative of disease severity and inflammatory activity have been recently proposed, the potential use of reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) in the evaluation of the inflammatory stage of FD has never been published to date. Our study investigated RCM features of 14 patients with a histopathological diagnosis of FD, evaluating clinical and trichoscopic findings. RCM findings were divided into 2 main patterns: "follicular" and "interfollicular." Our results suggest a potential role for RCM as a noninvasive, fast technique for a complementary investigation in the diagnostic process, as well as in the therapeutic management decision.

Keywords: Cicatricial alopecia; Folliculitis decalvans; Noninvasive diagnosis; Reflectance confocal microscopy.