The characteristic findings for FFA were more prominent apoptosis and less inflammation than found in LPP, along with spared interfollicular epidermis. FFA cases showed a rather characteristic histopathological pattern, although we could not find any clear-cut histological differences between FFA and LPP.

Background  Frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA) is an acquired scarring alopecia currently considered a clinical variant of lichen planopilaris (LPP). Our purpose was to examine the clinicopathological features of FFA. In addition, we investigated the similarities and differences between FFA and LPP. Methods  Biopsies from the scalp lesions of eight patients with FFA and eight patients with LPP were microscopically analyzed. Two cases of FFA and four cases of LPP were studied using direct immunofluorescence. Results  In spite of the completely different clinical characteristics of FFA and LPP patients, the histopathological findings for the two entities were similar. Common microscopic findings for both FFA and LPP included an inflammatory lymphocytic infiltrate involving the isthmus and infundibulum of the hair follicles, the presence of apoptotic cells in the external root sheath, and a concentric fibrosis surrounding the hair follicles that resulted in their destruction with subsequent scarring alopecia. Biopsies taken from FFA patients showed less follicular inflammation and more apoptotic cells than those from LPP patients. In some cases of LPP, the inflammatory infiltrate involved the interfollicular epidermis, a finding never present in our FFA cases. Direct immunofluorescence was negative in the two cases of FFA studied and showed deposits of immunoglobulins and/or complement in two of the four LPP cases examined. Conclusions  The characteristic findings for FFA were more prominent apoptosis and less inflammation than found in LPP, along with spared interfollicular epidermis. FFA cases showed a rather characteristic histopathological pattern, although we could not find any clear‐cut histological differences between FFA and LPP.

We describe the second case of annular atrophic lichen planus. The annular configuration of the lesions resulted from peripheral enlargement with simultaneous central clearing. Histology showed features of lichen planus in the active border of the lesion and a pattern of resolved lichen planus in its center. Elastic fibers had been destroyed in the papillary dermis both in the border and in the center of the lesion, resulting in an atrophic appearance of the lesion. Annular atrophic lichen planus is an uncommon variant of lichen planus that results from elastolytic activity of inflammatory cells with formation of areas of localized acquired cutis laxa.

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We report a case of areolar sebaceous hyperplasia involving the right mammary areola in a 49-year-old male. Areolar sebaceous hyperplasia, an uncommon entity first described by Catalano and Ioannides in 1985, is characterized clinically by yellowish thickening of the areolae and histopathologically by large numbers of mature hyperplastic sebaceous lobules connected to the skin surface through short, hairless infundibular canals. Since its original description, only two additional reports have been published. To our knowledge, our patient is the first reported of areolar sebaceous hyperplasia in a male.