Pseudopelade of Brocq is lichen planopilaris: Report of four cases that support this nosology

Four patients are presented with pseudopelade of Brocq whose symptoms also illustrate the spectrum of symptoms of lichen planus. The literature is reviewed and the clinical and histologic features of pseudopelade of Brocq and lichen planopilaris are described. The literature on pseudopelade of Brocq is confusing and outdated. Since Degos's article in 1954, it has become commonly accepted that pseudopelade of Brocq is a nonspecific cicatricial end stage of scalp diseases resulting in alopecia. We maintain instead that pseudopelade of Brocq and lichen planopilaris are basically the same condition, namely a manifestation of lichen planus.