ABSTRACT
BROCQ’S ALOPECIA The term ‘pseudopelade of Brocq’ is a source of much confusion and fruitless debate, and should be abandoned. Pseudopelade has been used in recent decades to describe some patients with central, centrifugal scarring alopecia (CCSA), a very different condition from that described by Dr Brocq. To avoid confusion, we can refer to the entity described by Brocq as Brocq’s alopecia. Brocq’s alopecia is not a distinct disease but a clinical pattern of scarring alopecia. It is an end-stage or clinical variant of several other forms of scarring alopecia and a diagnosis of exclusion. The same pattern of hair loss can be seen in ‘burnt out’ lichen planopilaris (LPP), discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) and other forms of cicatricial hair loss. If a definitive diagnosis of DLE, LPP, CCSA or another form of scarring alopecia can be made based on clinical, histological or immunofluorescent features, then the term Brocq’s alopecia cannot be used. If a ‘primary’ form of Brocq’s alopecia exists, it has yet to be convincingly described.
