Clinicopathologic and immunophenotypic characterization of lichen planopilaris and central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia: A comparative study of 51 cases

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to compare the histopathologic and immunophenotypic features of central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia (CCCA) and lichen planopilaris (LPP) to better characterize and differentiate these two clinical entities. CCCA remains an ill‐defined and still‐unsettled histologic entity and many hair loss experts regard CCCA to be histologically indistinguishable from LPP. Given the overlapping histologic features of these two lymphocyte‐predominant cicatricial alopecias, and the lack of consensus regarding the significance of proposed distinctions, dermatopathologists face difficulty in providing clinicians and patients certainty with a definitive diagnosis of CCCA vs LPP.