Irreversible destruction of the hair follicle (HF) in primary cicatricial alopecia and its most common variant, frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA), results from apoptosis and pathological epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of epithelial HF stem cells (eHFSCs), in conjunction with the collapse of bulge immune privilege (IP) and interferon-gamma-mediated chronic inflammation. The gene discussed is IFNG; the disease is frontal fibrosing alopecia.