Frontal Fibrosing Alopecia: A Retrospective Analysis of 72 Patients from a German Academic Center

    December 2017 in “ Facial Plastic Surgery ”
    Markus V. Heppt, Valerie Letulé, Ieva Laniauskaite, Markus Reinholz, Julia K. Tietze, Hans Wolff, Thomas Ruzicka, Elke Sattler
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    TLDR Combination therapy with steroids and pimecrolimus improved or stabilized hair loss in most patients with Frontal Fibrosing Alopecia, who also had a high rate of hypothyroidism.
    In a retrospective analysis of 72 patients with Frontal Fibrosing Alopecia (FFA), a condition primarily affecting postmenopausal women, a combination therapy of topical high-potency steroids and pimecrolimus was administered to 48 patients. This treatment led to subjective improvement or disease stabilization in 64.6% of these patients after 9 to 12 months. The study also reported a high incidence of hypothyroidism (29.2%) among the patients, which is notably higher than the general population. Despite the limitations of the study, such as its retrospective design and the absence of a control group, the findings suggest that the combination therapy could be an effective treatment for FFA, although future prospective randomized trials are necessary to confirm these results.
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