Successful Treatment of Multiple Alopecia Areata With Contact Immunotherapy: Supportive Usage of Oral Antihistamine and Topical Corticosteroid.
Alopecia areata is a most common cause of hair loss,1 characterized by patchy, confluent,
or diffuse hair loss in normal-appearing skin. Area of hair loss usually involve in the scalp and
region of the beard, or even on the whole body.
Together with clinical presentation of hair loss, exclamation-mark hairs, cadaver hairs
and nail pitting often render the diagnosis of AA.
About 16% of AA patients are reported to associate with other allergic or autoimmune diseases
including atopic dermatitis (AD), vitiligo, autoimmune thyroid disease.
Helpful therapeutic options with immunosuppressive or immune-deviation strategy are suggested
to clinician on these days. Among them, only treatments are considered to reach the level
of evidence-based medicine; intralesional injection of corticosteroid and contact immunotherapy.
Still, there is no curative therapy for AA. On the other hand, ‘modified’ immunotherapy for AA
such as combination therapy with contact immunotherapy and steroid pulse and contact
immunotherapy without sensitization at a starting point are also reported, currently.
She has not responded to steroid pulse therapy for one year of intermittent oral corticosteroid with targeted ultraviolet B phototherapy for her scalp. She visited our hospital in 2015, when she was 47-years-old.
Dermatol Open J. 2017; 2(2): 18-20. doi: 10.17140/DRMTOJ-2-123
