Research Study 1

Abstract

Alopecia areata is one of the most common forms of hair loss. It is characterized by sudden onset patchy hair loss on the scalp that can occasionally evolve into loss of all scalp hair (alopecia totalis) or all scalp and body hair (alopecia universalis). It affects approximately 0.1–0.2% of the general population. This condition is now generally assumed to be an autoimmune disease, in which hair follicle is the principal target tissue. Several types of treatment have been postulated; however, all have had partial efficiency without complete remission of the disease.

Topical immunotherapy with diphencyprone (diphenylcyclopropenone) is one of the most extensively used treatments. The reported response rates to this kind of therapy are highly variable, ranging from 4% to 85%. The mean time between the initiation of treatment and hair regrowth has been reported to be approximately 12 weeks in previous studies.

This is a retrospective study that investigated the response to treatment of 105 Iranian patients with alopecia areata presented to Razi Hospital’s Dermatology Center. The patients were selected according to defined inclusion criteria. In the study, the mean time between the initiation of sensitizing with 2% solution of diphencyprone and hair growth was 183.93 days and 95% of patients responded to the treatment within 361.2 days. It was also concluded that there is significant correlation between the treatment response time and gender, the presence of nail changes, and severity of the disease.

Aim: To determine prevalence of positive thyroid disorder tests in patients with alopecia areata totalis and alopecia areata universalis and its comparison with normal population.

Method: Data was obtained from medical files of 100 patients (44 men and 56 women with average age of 24.16) having AA totalis and AA universalis as the sample group and 100 normal people (42 men and 58 women with average age of 26.10) as the control group. No symptoms of thyroid disease were recorded in either of the two groups. The obtained data were then analyzed by SPSS version 17.

Findings: In the majority of patients (54%), disease emerged in the first two decades of life. History of atopy was observed in 98% of patients. The presence of similar disease in near family was reported in 14.3% of patients. The general prevalence of disorders in thyroid tests was 10.3% in comparison with the control group. Eight percent of patients had T3 disorder, 10% had T4 disorder, 3% had T3 uptake disorders, and 11% had TSH disorders. TSH, T4, and T3 disorders were significantly higher in test groups than the control one. T3 uptake disorder was also higher in patient group, but it was not significant. Among thyroid disorders, only TSH disorder was different in the different types of disease and was also higher in the totalis type.

Conclusion: Paraclinical thyroid disorder in alopecia areata patients is higher than the normal population. There is no significant relationship between these disorders and age, gender, or disease duration.