A slowly receding hairline

A 75-year-old woman presented with slowly progressive hair loss that had been occurring for ten years and which only affects the hairline and the eyebrows. Clinically, there was band-shaped alopecia with clearly receding frontotemporal hair boundary line, which was clearly separated from the actinically damaged skin of the forehead. Previous therapies with methotrexate and acitretin that had already been carried out were unsuccessful. On the basis of the characteristic clinical picture, the diagnosis of frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA) was made. FFA is rare form of scarring alopecia that predominantly affects postmenopausal women. The etiopathogenesis of FFA is unclear, but connection with the lichen planus is being discussed. A biopsy test is only necessary in unclear cases and to differentiate between other forms of alopecia. There is no causal therapy. We treated with hydroxychloroquine and topical corticosteroids, which stopped the hair loss.

Dr. med. Bijan Koushk Jalali, Dr. med. Christian Tigges, Prof. Dr. med. Alexander Kreuter, Clinic for Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, HELIOS St. Elisabeth Hospital Oberhausen, University of Witten-Herdecke, a.kreuter@derma.de

Conflict of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Citation: Koushk Jalali B, Tigges C, Kreuter A: A slowly receding hairline. Dtsch Arztebl Int 2018; 115: 673. DOI: 10.3238 / arztebl.2018.0673

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