“HAIR LOSS.” You see this on your schedule and, admit it, your heart starts beating just a little bit faster.
Hair loss remains one of the last frontiers of dermatology. We trained in dermatology. We understand skin cancer, inflammatory disease, complex dermatopathology, biologics, lasers—and, yet, a patient with “hair loss” can still make even an experienced dermatologist wonder what exactly is about to walk through the door.
That is why I wanted to put together this issue.
Not another exhaustive review of everything we already know. I wanted the latest and most relevant things that we actually tell each other. I wanted the experts to share pearls learned after seeing their 1,000th alopecia patient. The clinical thoughts that never made it into a textbook. What to do when the biopsy does not quite match the clinical picture. What works in expert hands and what we can actually use today in clinic.
And I wanted those voices from everywhere.
Our colleagues across the United States and around the world deal with the same types of alopecia, but their practices are culturally nuanced. Different patients and different hair types, resources, and approaches. There is so much we can learn from each other.
To everyone who shared a pearl, an opinion, a technique, or simply the wisdom that comes from years of seeing patients: thank you. There are many more people I wish we could have included. Maybe that is the best part, that hair dermatology has become too big, too interesting, and too global to fit into one issue.
It has always been my dream not to grace the cover but to be behind the scenes, shaping what goes inside it. I am incredibly grateful to have been able to check that one off the list.
Here’s to more issues like this.
Guest Medical Editor
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