Alopecia Areata: Successful Outcome with Microneedling and Triamcinolone Acetonide

In 2013, a study was conducted on two patients suffering from Alopecia Areata (AA), a chronic autoimmune disease causing hair loss. The patients had previously been treated with intralesional injections of triamcinolone acetonide, topical steroid creams, and minoxidil 5% lotion, but showed no improvement. The study introduced a novel method of treating AA using microneedling with topical triamcinolone application. The treatment involved three sessions at three-week intervals, using a derma roller with 192 needles of 1.5-mm length each, followed by topical application of triamcinolone acetonide. Both patients showed improvement with each session, with excellent hair growth after nine weeks. The treatment was painless and there were no adverse effects during or after the treatment. No recurrence was noted in the three-month follow-up. The study concluded that microneedling in combination with triamcinolone is a safe and promising tool for hair stimulation and faster re-growth in AA.