Lance Nussbaum, DO Matthew Morrissey, MD Simon Ritchie, MD Ramstein Air Base, Germany (Dr. Nussbaum); San Antonio Military Health System, San Antonio, Tex (Drs. Morrissey and Ritchie) simon.ritchie@us.af.mil
DEPARTMENT EDITOR Richard P. Usatine, MD University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
The authors reported no potential conflict of interest relevant to this article.
Was this patient’s plaque psoriasis causing her progressive hair loss—or was it something else?
A 57-year-old African American woman came to our dermatology clinic to reestablish care. She had a long history of plaque psoriasis involving her trunk and extremities. More recently, she had developed progressive hair loss, which her previous physician had attributed to the psoriasis. Before this visit, our patient had been treating her psoriasis with topical clobetasol and calcipotriene.
A physical exam revealed multiple welldemarcated, erythematous, scaly plaques consistent with plaque psoriasis on her trunk and extremities. She also said her scalp was itchy, and we noted significant cicatricial (scarring) alopecia of the scalp, with faint perifollicular erythema, that was predominantly affecting the frontotemporal region (FIGURE). We performed a scalp biopsy.
WHAT IS YOUR DIAGNOSIS? HOW WOULD YOU TREAT THIS PATIENT?