"Turban PUVAsol:" A simple, novel, effective, and safe treatment option for advanced and refractory cases of alopecia areata

Background: Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune characterized by nonscarring loss of scalp and/or body hairs. Topical PUVA has been reported to have good effect in AA. The modification of topical PUVA which we call, "Turban PUVA-sol," is a method of localized immunotherapy using psoralen...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of trichology 2018-05, Vol.10 (3), p.124-128
Main Authors: Majumdar, Banashree, De, Abhishek, Ghosh, Soumyodhriti, Sil, Amrita, Sarda, Aarti, Lahiri, Koushik, Chatterjee, Gobinda, Das, Sudip
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alopecia
Baldness
Care and treatment
Dermatology
Hair loss
Immunotherapy
Irritation
Light therapy
Medical prognosis
Original
Patients
Psoriasis
Side effects
Skin
Slopes
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Summary:Background: Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune characterized by nonscarring loss of scalp and/or body hairs. Topical PUVA has been reported to have good effect in AA. The modification of topical PUVA which we call, "Turban PUVA-sol," is a method of localized immunotherapy using psoralen solution followed by sun exposure. Aims: We aim to study the therapeutic role and side effect profile of turban PUVA in the treatment of advanced and refractory AA. Methodology: Fifteen consecutive patients of alopecia subtotalis (at least 70% of scalp hair loss), totalis, and universalis, attending the dermatology outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital in eastern India were subjected to "Turban PUVA-sol" after duly signed consent. Alternate day therapy was given. Results: At the end of 10 months of study, 2 (13%) out of fifteen patients were lost to follow-up for some unknown reasons. The severity of alopecia tool scores showed a significant (P = 0.0002) decrease posttreatment. Correlation between the severity of alopecia and grade of improvement showed a rho value of −0.453. In the remaining thirteen patients, using physician global assessment (PGA), 4 (26%) showed good response, 4 (26%) showed moderate response, 3 showed mild (20%) response, and 2 patients (13%) showed negligible response. Three out of four patients who showed good improvement in PGA showed more than 80% of new hair growth. Side effects are minimal with some patients complaining of mild irritation and scaling. Conclusion: We found topical Turban PUVAsol to be a very cost-effective and safe treatment option for AA.
ISSN:0974-7753
0974-9241
DOI:10.4103/ijt.ijt_95_17