title: Alopecia: evaluation and management.
abstract: The patient presenting with hair loss may have a primary dermatologic disease, a genetically engineered process, an infectious disease, an underlying systemic illness, a drug reaction, or a psychological disorder. By first dividing the process into one of three categories, scarring, diffuse-nonscarring, or patchy-nonscarring, one then can approach the evaluation in a rational manner. Using the bedside techniques of a hair pull, hair pluck, and microscopic hair examination and directed laboratory tests, one can narrow the differential diagnosis and can recommend directed therapy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Dermatology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina.
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Olsen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000505:Alopecia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male