Cryotherapy of Alopecia Areata

Lee, Beom Joo; Lee, Won Soo; Yoo, Min Seok; Ahn, Sung Ku

Abstract

BACKGROUND: 1. Conventional topical treatments of alopecia areata such as intralesional injection and topical application of glucocorticosteroids, and induction of conttact sensitivity using DPCP have had dieadvantages as follow 1) a time -consuming treatment perioed 2) various forms of discomfort during and after treatment 3) many side effects. 2. Though hair follicllee are easily damaged by intense cryo-application, we anticipate the regrowth of hair without damage to the tissue when applied to the scalp lightly OBJECT: We evaluated the efficacy of treatment and side effect of cryotherapy in patients with alopecia areata and whether this method can be used for the firstiline treatment of small alopecic patches, avoiding the above disadvantages of conventional methods METHOD: 19 patients witt alopecia areata lesion(s) confined within one fourth of the totaI scalp area were treated by dip-stick method with liquid nitrogen once a week luring the first 4 weeks, then at a two week interval. A cotten tip was lightly applied to the alopecic, patches for one to two seconds. We surveyed side effects and regrowth of hair during a periodic follow up. RESULT: The results can be summurized as follows : 1. Therapeutic responses were noted in 17(89%) of 19 patients studid. 2. In all the patients who responded, vellus hair appeared within 4 weeks of treatment, and terminal hair appeared within 6 weeks of treatment. 3. There were no specific fectors showing statistical significance between therapeutic responses. 4. There were no significanf, side effects except very faint pain during cryoapplication. 5. Recurrence was observed in only patieni during a 9-12 months follow-up
CONCLUSION
Cryotherpy of the alopecia areata can be regarded as an effective mode of treatment with many advantages. These include relatively good therapeutic results, short-term treatment, a simple and convenient method, and nearly no side effects. We recommerld cryotherapy as a first-line mode of treatment of alopecia area.ta lesions which are small in size and few in number.