Morphea alopecia is a rare secondary cicatricial alopecia, often caused by linear scleroderma of the scalp. When hair loss appears as the only symptom of morphea, it is easily confused with other localized alopecia. The diagnosis of morphea alopecia depends on histopathologic and dermoscopic examinations. In order to improve the understanding of morphea alopecia among clinicians, this review summarizes research progress in its pathogenesis, clinical and pathological characteristics, diagnosis and treatment.

Erosive pustular dermatosis of the scalp (EPDS) is a rare superficial skin inflammatory disease that occurs on the scalp, and its pathogenesis is still unclear. Its clinical manifestations are similar to those of infective inflammation and malignant tumors, and its diagnosis is highly dependent on non-specific pathological changes, so the diagnosis is relatively difficult. Clinically, topical glucocorticoids are the main treatment method, but treatment outcomes vary greatly among individuals, and patients with refractory EPDS need other treatment methods. EPDS generally requires long-term topical glucocorticoid therapy, and adverse drug reactions are common. This review summarizes research progress in EPDS in recent years, in order to improve clinicians' understanding of this disease.

Congenital triangular alopecia is a kind of non-inflammatory and non-cicatricial alopecia, and most cases develop this disease at the ages of 2 - 9 years. The pathogenesis of congenital triangular alopecia is still unclear, and there is a lack of effective treatments. Congenital triangular alopecia is rather liable to be misdiagnosed and erroneously treated, and dermoscopy helps confirm the diagnosis. This review summarizes the progress in the epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical diagnosis, and treatment of congenital triangular alopecia.

Morphea alopecia is a rare secondary cicatricial alopecia, often caused by linear scleroderma of the scalp. When hair loss appears as the only symptom of morphea, it is easily confused with other localized alopecia. The diagnosis of morphea alopecia depends on histopathologic and dermoscopic examinations. In order to improve the understanding of morphea alopecia among clinicians, this review summarizes research progress in its pathogenesis, clinical and pathological characteristics, diagnosis and treatment.

Erosive pustular dermatosis of the scalp (EPDS) is a rare superficial skin inflammatory disease that occurs on the scalp, and its pathogenesis is still unclear. Its clinical manifestations are similar to those of infective inflammation and malignant tumors, and its diagnosis is highly dependent on non-specific pathological changes, so the diagnosis is relatively difficult. Clinically, topical glucocorticoids are the main treatment method, but treatment outcomes vary greatly among individuals, and patients with refractory EPDS need other treatment methods. EPDS generally requires long-term topical glucocorticoid therapy, and adverse drug reactions are common. This review summarizes research progress in EPDS in recent years, in order to improve clinicians' understanding of this disease.

Congenital triangular alopecia is a kind of non-inflammatory and non-cicatricial alopecia, and most cases develop this disease at the ages of 2 - 9 years. The pathogenesis of congenital triangular alopecia is still unclear, and there is a lack of effective treatments. Congenital triangular alopecia is rather liable to be misdiagnosed and erroneously treated, and dermoscopy helps confirm the diagnosis. This review summarizes the progress in the epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical diagnosis, and treatment of congenital triangular alopecia.

Frontal fibrosing alopecia is a primary lymphocytic cicatricial alopecia, and is generally considered to be a subtype of lichen planopilaris due to similar histopathological changes. Its etiology is still unclear. With the deepening of research on this disease, more and more cases of frontal fibrosing alopecia have been reported in China and other countries. This review summarizes research progress in pathogenesis, clinical and pathological characteristics, and treatment of frontal fibrosing alopecia.

A case of cicatricial female pattern hair loss was reported. A 36-year-old female patient presented with gradually aggravated hair loss for more than 10 years. Skin examination showed diffuse hair thinning on the scalp, thin and soft hairs, and some pencil eraser-sized areas of focal atrichia. TrichoScan examination revealed markedly decreased hair density on the forehead, variability in hair diameter greater than 20%, and increased proportions of vellus hairs. Dermoscopic examination showed increased numbers of vellus hairs, plenty of focal atrichia areas measuring 3 - 5 mm in diameter, loss of some follicular ostia, and confluent white dots. Histopathological examination of vertical and transverse scalp sections showed predominantly distributed miniaturized hair follicles with lichenoid folliculitis around the infundibulum and isthmus, concentrically layered perifollicular fibrosis, a marked decrease in the number of hair follicles compared with healthy people of the same age, increased proportions of vellus hairs, a large number of miniaturized hair follicles and follicular streamers, and formation of follicular micro-scars. The patient was diagnosed with cicatricial female pattern hair loss. She received topical treatment with 5% minoxidil liniment once a day, and alternate treatment with topical tacrolimus ointment and clobetasol propionate ointment, as well as oral spironolactone at a dose of 20 mg twice a day and compound glycyrrhizin capsules at a dose of 50 mg thrice a day. After half a year of treatment, there was no marked aggravation of hair loss, and the follow-up continued.

Objective:To explore the marking method for magnetically controlled capsule gastroscopy (MCCG) pictures with artificial intelligence (AI), so as to improve the work efficiency of endoscopist and to reduce the blind area of AI image reading.Methods:According to the consensus of MCCG, 24 parts of stomach in 14 775 pictures of MCCG from 35 subjects in Shenzhen Zifu Medical Technology Co., Ltd received MCCG from March to August, 2020 were marked by ten gastroenterologists and one developer of MCCG with medical background, the marking shape included rectangles and polygons. Among the ten gastroenterologists, three were senior endoscopist (the total number of gastroenteroscopy operations over 80 000, chief physician or associate chief physician), four were medium seniority endoscopist (the total number of gastroenteroscopy operations between 10 000 and 80 000, associate chief physician), and three were junior endoscopist (the total number of gastroenteroscopy operations less than 10 000, attending physician). The pictures of the same subject were pre-marked by two selected senior endoscopists with blind method, and the standard of marking with most appropriate coincidence rate was determined. The qualified marked pictures were automatically learn with AI deep learning method, and the learning results were fed back. Chi square test was used for statistical analysis.Results:According to the pre-marked results, the standard of coincidence rate for rectangular marking area was set as 50.0% and that for polygon marking area was 70.0%. The first correction for qualified rate was 39.0% (5 762/14 775). A total of 9 013 pictures were corrected. After repeated training and correction for one to five times, all pictures were qualified marked. The marking qualified rate of senior endoscopist partners was higher than that of partners of different qualifications (48.7%, 1 200/2 466 vs. 19.0%, 825/4 337), and the difference was statistically significant ( χ2=659.20, P<0.001). There was no statistically significant difference in the marking qualified rate between the senior endoscopist partners and partners of senior endoscopist and capsule developer (48.7%, 1 200/2 466 vs. 49.6%, 1 496/3 019; P>0.05). Conclusions:Establishment of AI marking method for MCCG can provide technical support for AI non-blind area reading, and AI non-blind area monitoring during the operation of MCCG.

Objective: To compare diagnostic performance of traditional vertical section technique, horizontal section technique and modified Ho-Vert technique for classical lichen planopilaris. Methods: Clinical data were collected from patients with classical lichen planopilaris in Department of Dermatology, The Affiliated Wuxi People′s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from January 1st 2015 to January 1st 2019. With the help of dermoscopy, 2 scalp specimens were obtained from each patient and sliced horizontally and vertically respectively by using modified Ho-Vert technique. The horizontal and vertical sections were read separately or simultaneously, and histopathological changes were observed. Results: Totally, 21 patients with classical lichen planopilaris were enrolled into this study, including 15 males and 6 females. Their age was 50.0 ± 13.6 years, and the average course of disease was 18 months. The patients mainly presented with multifocal or confluent patchy hair loss, and scalp atrophy, perifollicular hyperkeratosis, loss of follicular ostia, fibrous white dots and orbit sign were observed. On the horizontal sections, lichenoid lymphocytic infiltration around the infundibulum and isthmus of hair follicles and follicular micro-scars could be observed in all patients, and the dermo-epidermal interface could be seen in 7 patients. On the vertical sections, lichenoid lymphocytic infiltration around the infundibulum and isthmus of hair follicles only could be observed in 9 patients, follicular micro-scars could be seen in 4, and the dermo-epidermal interface could be observed in all patients. Moreover, the detection rates of interfollicular interface dermatitis, follicular keratotic plugs, lymphocytic infiltration around sebaceous glands, atrophy or disappearance of sebaceous glands and inflammatory infiltration around hair follicle bulbs were significantly different between the horizontal and vertical sections. In combination with clinical manifestations, 7 patients could be exactly diagnosed with lichen planopilaris according to findings from horizontal sections, and 9 could be diagnosed exactly according to findings from vertical sections, while 21 could be diagnosed exactly according to histopathological findings from both horizontal and vertical sections. Conclusion With the help of dermoscopy, modified Ho-Vert technique can improve the efficacy of pathological diagnosis of classical lichen planopilaris, by multidimensionally showing histopathological changes.