Abstract
Inflammatory cells consisting of mast cells as well as lymphocytes are observed in the lesions of alopecia areata, and the involvement of mast cells in the pathogenesis of alopecia areata has been suggested. In the present paper, a clinical observation was made of the efficacy of ebastine, a second generation antihistamine, in the treatment of alopecia areata. Twenty-three patients, the ebastine group, were treated with 10 mg of ebastine given as a single dose once a day for three months (ebastine group). An other 9 patients were treated with 2 mg of diazepam given as a single oral dose once a day for three months (diazepam group). In the ebastine group, 14 out of the 23 patients (60.9%) showed hair regrowth during the three months of ebastine administration, while only one out of the 9 patients (11.1%) in the diazepam group showed hair regrowth. The rate of the patients showing hair regrowth in the ebastine group was significantly higher than the rate in the diazepam group (p=0.0179). Furthermore, six out of the 8 patients without hair regrowth in the diazepam group did regrow hair during three months of ebastine administration performed after the three months of diazepam administration. These results suggest the efficacy of ebastine for alopecia areata. In the ebastine group, the mean age of patients with hair regrowth (45±16.9) was significantly higher (p=0.0088) than that of patients without hair regrowth (25.3±9.3), suggesting that younger patients may show more resistance to ebastine therapy.
