Original articleHigh accuracy of recognition of common forms of folliculitis by dermoscopy: An observational study
Section snippets
Patients
Consecutive patients who visited the Dermatology Department of Başkent University Hospital in Adana, Turkey, between November 2012 and November 2018 and in whom folliculitis had been diagnosed on the basis of clinical and dermoscopic assessment (papules or pustules centered around a hair) were considered eligible for the study. The study was reviewed and approved by the institutional review board at the University of Başkent, Ankara, Turkey. The Declaration of Helsinki protocols were followed,
Patients
A total of 240 folliculitis lesions from 240 patients (132 females and 108 males) were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 28 years (range, 2-76 years). The face was the most common localization of lesions (35%). Other affected areas included the trunk (30.4%), scalp (21.3%), groin (7.5%), and extremities (5.8%). Of the 240 lesions, 216 (90%) lesions were infectious and 24 (10%) were noninfectious (Table I). The definitive diagnosis was made by cytologic analysis (n = 215),
Discussion
In the current study, we investigated the diagnostic value of dermoscopy in the differentiation of folliculitis. We determined the diagnostic accuracy of dermoscopy as 73.7%. The diagnostic accuracy was high in patients with Demodex folliculitis (88.1%), scabies folliculitis (89.7%), and dermatophytic folliculitis (100%).
According to the available literature, bacterial culture, fungal culture, and histopathologic examination are the most common methods used to investigate the causes of
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Funding sources: None
Conflicts of interest: None disclosed.
IRB approval status: This study was reviewed and approved by the institutional review board at the University of Başkent, Ankara, Turkey (KA12/226).
Reprint requests: Reprints not available from the authors.