2010 Volume 72 Issue 5 Pages 507-513
The most common therapy for alopecia areata is topical steroids. Topical immunotherapy with squaric acid dibutylester (SADBE) has been reported to be effective, but can be performed only in a few institutions. This study evaluated the efficacy of topical t-flavanone together with oral glycyrrhizin and cepharantine in alopecia areata (simplex or multiplex) patients with three bald patches or less. Their scalps were treated with a lotion containing 0.1% t-flavanone or with a placebo containing all components of the test lotion except t-flavanone for three months. All patients were instructed to take one cepharantine tablet and one glycyrrhizin tablet three times a day (morning, mid-day and night) during the study. At the conclusion of the study, the efficacy of t-flavanone was evaluated by considering comprehensive improvement, and objective and concomitant symptoms. As a result, 85% of the t-flavanone group and 27% of the placebo group were evaluated as effective or better, showing a statistically significant difference (p<0.05). The difference was more evident when the results were compared among patients who had no new hair in their bald patches at the beginning of the test, which showed that 100% of the t-flavanone group and 29% of the placebo group were evaluated as effective or better. These results indicate that topical t-flavanone can be an effective therapy for treating alopecia areata patients.
