Autophagy is the essential mechanism for cell adaptation and survival. Under normal physiological conditions, autophagy activates hair follicle stem cells, induces the transition of hair follicles from the telogen phase to the anagen phase, and maintains the hair growth cycle. Moreover, autophagy can protect dermal papilla cells from damage under pathological conditions. Intervention in autophagy can slow the progress of hair loss due to the existence of impaired autophagy in androgenetic alopecia and alopecia areata. The review summarizes the role of autophagy in hair cycle regulation, cell homeostasis maintenance, and hair regeneration, providing new insights into therapeutic options targeting follicular autophagy signaling pathways.

Vitiligo is a common acquired depigmentation skin disease involving the skin and hair, which is caused by the loss of function or reduction in the number of epidermal melanocytes and hair follicle melanocytes. The main principle of treatment is to control the disease progression, promote the repigmentation in lesional areas, and achieve morphological and functional repair. Skin and hair follicle melanocytes are the main source of vitiligo repigmentation, and thus transplantation of the whole tissues or tissue-derived cell suspensions to the vitiligo lesions is often used for the treatment of vitiligo. This review summarizes the progress in the application of hair follicle transplantation and follicular cell suspension transplantation in the surgical treatment of vitiligo.

Ultraviolet exposure may promote the development of androgenetic alopecia. On the one hand, ultraviolet irradiation can cause perifollicular inflammation through oxidative stress and microecological changes, and can also induce keratinocytes, melanocytes and mast cells to participate in the development of follicular microinflammation; on the other hand, ultraviolet irradiation can cause the aging of hair follicle stem cells, dermal papilla cells and dermal fibroblasts, as well as the increase of elastic fibers. This review summarizes relevant literature in recent years, in order to provide a theoretical basis for advocating protection of the hair and scalp against sunlight to prevent androgenetic alopecia.

The main pathological feature of androgenetic alopecia is the progressive miniaturization of hair follicles, which is closely related to vascular changes around hair follicles. Vascular endothelial growth factor interacts with dermal papilla cells and hair follicle stem cells to promote the formation of blood vessels around hair follicles, and to increase the nutrient supply to hair follicles, thereby promoting hair growth. This review summarizes research progress in the role of vascular endothelial growth factor in androgenetic alopecia.

Autophagy is the essential mechanism for cell adaptation and survival. Under normal physiological conditions, autophagy activates hair follicle stem cells, induces the transition of hair follicles from the telogen phase to the anagen phase, and maintains the hair growth cycle. Moreover, autophagy can protect dermal papilla cells from damage under pathological conditions. Intervention in autophagy can slow the progress of hair loss due to the existence of impaired autophagy in androgenetic alopecia and alopecia areata. The review summarizes the role of autophagy in hair cycle regulation, cell homeostasis maintenance, and hair regeneration, providing new insights into therapeutic options targeting follicular autophagy signaling pathways.

Vitiligo is a common acquired depigmentation skin disease involving the skin and hair, which is caused by the loss of function or reduction in the number of epidermal melanocytes and hair follicle melanocytes. The main principle of treatment is to control the disease progression, promote the repigmentation in lesional areas, and achieve morphological and functional repair. Skin and hair follicle melanocytes are the main source of vitiligo repigmentation, and thus transplantation of the whole tissues or tissue-derived cell suspensions to the vitiligo lesions is often used for the treatment of vitiligo. This review summarizes the progress in the application of hair follicle transplantation and follicular cell suspension transplantation in the surgical treatment of vitiligo.

Ultraviolet exposure may promote the development of androgenetic alopecia. On the one hand, ultraviolet irradiation can cause perifollicular inflammation through oxidative stress and microecological changes, and can also induce keratinocytes, melanocytes and mast cells to participate in the development of follicular microinflammation; on the other hand, ultraviolet irradiation can cause the aging of hair follicle stem cells, dermal papilla cells and dermal fibroblasts, as well as the increase of elastic fibers. This review summarizes relevant literature in recent years, in order to provide a theoretical basis for advocating protection of the hair and scalp against sunlight to prevent androgenetic alopecia.

The main pathological feature of androgenetic alopecia is the progressive miniaturization of hair follicles, which is closely related to vascular changes around hair follicles. Vascular endothelial growth factor interacts with dermal papilla cells and hair follicle stem cells to promote the formation of blood vessels around hair follicles, and to increase the nutrient supply to hair follicles, thereby promoting hair growth. This review summarizes research progress in the role of vascular endothelial growth factor in androgenetic alopecia.

Objective:To analyze the dermoscopic and reflectance confocal microscopic characteristics of erythema dyschromicum perstans (EDP), and to explore the value of dermoscopy and reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) in the auxiliary diagnosis of EDP.Methods:Clinical data were retrospectively collected from 5 patients with EDP, who visited and were treated in the Department of Dermatology, Hangzhou Third People's Hospital from January to December 2020. Three typical lesions were chosen from each patient, and the 15 lesions were examined by dermoscopy and RCM. Skin specimens were taken from 2 cases at the observation sites for histopathological examination.Results:Among the 5 EDP patients, there were 3 males and 2 females, with an average age of 40.8 years (range, 24 - 62 years) and an average disease course of 15.7 months (range, 3 - 48 months). Disseminated Greyish-green patches on the trunk were observed in 3 cases, 1 case presented with lesions located on the bilateral upper limbs, and 1 presented with a solitary lesion on the neck. Dermoscopy showed that all 15 lesions exhibited a black pepper-like structure. RCM revealed focal liquefaction degeneration of basal cells in all 15 lesions. Histopathological examination of 2 cases showed focal liquefaction degeneration of basal cells and scattered pigmentophages in the dermal papilla.Conclusion:EDP has typical dermoscopic and RCM characteristics, which could provide a basis for its diagnosis and differential diagnosis.

Transient receptor potential vanilloid type 4 (TRPV4), the fourth member of the thermosensitive TRPV family, is a nonselective cation channel that is widely expressed in various tissues and cells. TRPV4 is involved in the physiological activities of various organs in the body by responding to both exogenous and endogenous stimuli. Studies have shown that TRPV4 participates in skin physiological and pathophysiological processes, including skin barrier repair and transduction of itch sensation, and also plays important roles in skin disorders, such as rosacea, alopecia, psoriasis, scleroderma, and skin cancers. This review summarizes research progress in the role of TRPV4 channels in skin diseases.