Introduction: In human society, hair and scalp now play an important role in appearance and sexual signalling; original functional roles of protection and heat conservation are secondary and changes in the appearance of skin and hair affect self-esteem and confidence in social settings. Aims: To study the various clinical patterns and dermoscopic findings of scalp dermatoses in adults. Settings and Design: An observational cross-sectional study. Methods and Material: The study was undertaken from 1st January 2019 to 1st June 2020. All adult patients reporting to the Outpatient Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprosy, Geetanjali Medical College and Hospital, Udaipur were evaluated for entry into the study and patients having scalp lesions were enrolled. A detailed history of all such patients was taken including general status of the patient, systemic diseases, medication used, precipitating factors such as sunlight, alcohol, smoking, drugs and trauma. Complete clinical and a thorough scalp examination along with dermoscopy was performed. Results: On studying the demographic profile of the patients with respect to the gender we found that out of 350 subjects, female and male comprised of 61.1% and 38.9% of the subjects respectively. Maximum subjects were in the second decade of the life with a mean age 35±10 years.14% followed by 31-40 years (22.86%). Most common scalp lesion was seborrheic capitis 131(37.4%) followed by psoriasis (83)23.7%. Telogen Effluvium, Androgenetic Alopecia and Alopecia Areata was found among 30(8.6%), 29 (8.3%) and27 (7.7%) of the subjects respectively. In dermoscopy findings among the study subjects most common findung is yellow scales with arborizing vessels in 119(34%) patients followed by red dots with silvery scales in 84(24%) and others findings are yellow dots, miniaturised hairs with single hair in follicular ostium, excalamation mark, yellow crusting, cerebreform pattern, peripilar casts, hypopigmented patches, broken hairs, nits, frogspawn appearance were observed. Conclusions: This study emphasizes the fact that many of the common dermatoses can significantly involve the scalp and can have overlapping symptoms and presentation making the diagnosis difficult and dermoscopy is helpful for making diagnosis.

Introduction: In human society, hair and scalp now play an important role in appearance and sexual signalling; original functional roles of protection and heat conservation are secondary and changes in the appearance of skin and hair affect self-esteem and confidence in social settings. Aims: To study the various clinical patterns and dermoscopic findings of scalp dermatoses in adults. Settings and Design: An observational cross-sectional study. Methods and Material: The study was undertaken from 1st January 2019 to 1st June 2020. All adult patients reporting to the Outpatient Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprosy, Geetanjali Medical College and Hospital, Udaipur were evaluated for entry into the study and patients having scalp lesions were enrolled. A detailed history of all such patients was taken including general status of the patient, systemic diseases, medication used, precipitating factors such as sunlight, alcohol, smoking, drugs and trauma. Complete clinical and a thorough scalp examination along with dermoscopy was performed. Results: On studying the demographic profile of the patients with respect to the gender we found that out of 350 subjects, female and male comprised of 61.1% and 38.9% of the subjects respectively. Maximum subjects were in the second decade of the life with a mean age 35±10 years.14% followed by 31-40 years (22.86%). Most common scalp lesion was seborrheic capitis 131(37.4%) followed by psoriasis (83)23.7%. Telogen Effluvium, Androgenetic Alopecia and Alopecia Areata was found among 30(8.6%), 29 (8.3%) and27 (7.7%) of the subjects respectively. In dermoscopy findings among the study subjects most common findung is yellow scales with arborizing vessels in 119(34%) patients followed by red dots with silvery scales in 84(24%) and others findings are yellow dots, miniaturised hairs with single hair in follicular ostium, excalamation mark, yellow crusting, cerebreform pattern, peripilar casts, hypopigmented patches, broken hairs, nits, frogspawn appearance were observed. Conclusions: This study emphasizes the fact that many of the common dermatoses can significantly involve the scalp and can have overlapping symptoms and presentation making the diagnosis difficult and dermoscopy is helpful for making diagnosis.