Original articleSubclinical sensitization with diphenylcyclopropenone is sufficient for the treatment of alopecia areata: Retrospective analysis of 159 cases
Section snippets
Patient selection and demographics
The cases of 159 patients with AA who were treated with the modified DPCP protocol in Wonju Severance Christian Hospital between January 2003 and December 2016 were retrospectively reviewed.
All types of AA, including patchy alopecia, alopecia totalis, and alopecia universalis, were included. Each medical record was reviewed for demographic and clinical information including age, sex, clinical subtype, age at disease onset, disease duration before DPCP treatment, antinuclear antibody titer,
Subject demographics
The demographic and clinical data are shown in Table I.
Absence of AEs in the sensitization process and overall fewer severe AEs during the treatment
None of the 159 patients complained of AEs after sensitization (Table II). During treatment, 61 reported no symptoms, including itching. Itching was mild in 40 patients, moderate in 38, and severe in 20. An antihistamine was prescribed for patients with moderate or severe itching. Of 20 patients with treatment site erythema, 11 showed scaling and were prescribed a topical steroid to manage discomfort. Two patients with blisters and 1
Discussion
Several studies established the therapeutic effect of DPCP in patients with AA, but the reported treatment responses have varied.8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 23, 24 The differences in the response rate depend not only on disease-associated factors but also on treatment-associated factors such as sensitization protocol and treatment area, duration, and interval.25, 26, 27, 28, 29 Furthermore, there are conflicting reports as to whether the presence or absence of an eczematous reaction
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Conflicts of interest: None disclosed.
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