Giant cells in male pattern alopecia: a histologic marker and pathogenetic clue.

Twenty-one of 65 (31%) biopsy specimens from patients with male pattern alopecia demonstrated the presence of individually displaced multinucleate giant cells without a significant concomitant cellular infiltrate. This finding was absent in a diverse group of other forms of alopecia. Whether individually displaced multinucleate cells are a useful histologic marker for diagnosing early stages of androgenetic alopecia remains to be determined.