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Indian J Dermatol. 2010 Apr–Jun; 55(2): 148.

Copyright © Indian Journal of Dermatology
COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT OF TOPICAL STEROIDS, TOPICAL TRETENOIN (0.05%) AND DITHRANOL PASTE IN ALOPECIA AREATA
Sudip Das, R C Ghorami, T Chatterjee, and Gautam Banerjee1
Bankura Sammilani Medical College, Bankura, West Bengal, India
1IPGMER, Kolkata, India.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

AbstractIntroductionMaterials and MethodsResultsDiscussionReferencesAbstractBackground:
There have been various controversial reports regarding the efficacy of topical agents in topical therapy of alopecia areata.

Aim: The study aims to find out the effective ones among the readily available ones for a dermatologist.

Materials and Methods: Eighty patients were chosen from the skin OPD of Bankura Sammilani Medical College, Bankura, West Bengal, after evaluating the exclusion criterions. Treatments were continued for 3 month period and a follow up after further 3 months. After dividing them into four groups–group-I (topical steroids), group-II (topical tretinoin 0.05%) group-III (dithranol paste 0.25%), and group-IV (white soft petrolatum jelly)–patients were evaluated.

Results: Seventy percent of group-I, 55% of group-II, 35% of group-III, and 20% of the control group (white soft petrolatum jelly) responded favorably. Side effects in the form of dermatitis and hyperpigmentation were seen in group-III. However, no patient discontinued from the study.

Conclusion: We conclude that both topical steroids and tretinoin were fairly effective in limited variant of alopecia areata.

Keywords: Alopecia areata, anthralin, topical steroids, tretenoin hai rloss hair loss treatment

Introduction

Alopecia areata is a non- scarring, recurrent, sometimes treatment-refractory hair disease, which can potentially cause hair loss in any hair bearing area. Alopecia areata commonly presents as patches of hair loss, of all scalp hair, (alopecia totalis), loss of body hair (alopecia universalis), or an ophiasis (band like) pattern. Common diseases associated with alopecia areata include allergic rhinitis, asthma, atopic dermatitis, and thyroid disorders.[1] It has also been associated with other diseases, most of which are autoimmune in nature e.g. vitiligo, lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, pernicious anemia, scleroderma, ulcerative colitis, and diabetes mellitus....

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