Lipedematous diseases of the scalp are not separate entities but part of a spectrum of lipomatous lesions.

BACKGROUND

Lipedematous lesions of the scalp share a wide range of morphologic criteria with classical lipomatosis. In the past decade, lipedematous scalp and lipedematous alopecia have been described as pathomorphologically related diseases of the scalp, but many clinicians and dermatopathologists disagree with this assessment. Morphologic and pathogenetic concepts remain unclear and raise the concern that a plethora of terms are being used to describe and distinguish phenotypical variations of an identical theme.

PATIENT AND METHODS

Here, we report a 15-year-old male Turkish child with what we could consider, according to the currently accepted classifications, lipedematous scalp without associated alopecia.

RESULTS

The principal aim of this manuscript is to critically reappraise the current literature on lipomatous lesions and focus on morphologic features in order to reestablish five crucial diagnostic criteria.

CONCLUSIONS

Due to the possibility of excluding therapeutic elements by separating the lipomatous lesions into various entities, we propose using the term "localized lipomatosis of the scalp with or without associated alopecia" in order to arrive at a straightforward diagnosis, thereby avoiding numerous partially synonymous terms; moreover, we do not intend to expand the spectrum of distinct lipomatous entities, but propose classification of these diseases within the group of conventional lipomatosis.