Intramuscular Corticosteroid Therapy in the Treatment of Alopecia Areata: A Time-to-Event Analysis

January 2022 in “ Drug design, development and therapy ”

Kumutnart Chanprapaph, Cherrin Pomsoong, Chaninan Kositkuljorn, Poonkiat Suchonwanit

intramuscular corticosteroids alopecia areata triamcinolone acetonide hair regrowth acneiform eruption nail involvement relapse IMC AA

From the encyclopedia

Alopecia Areata →

autoimmune disorder causing patchy hair loss

Triamcinolone Acetonide →

Studysummary This study demonstrated that intramuscular corticosteroids were effective for severe alopecia areata, with significant hair regrowth in 80.2% of patients, though a high relapse rate was noted post-treatment. Nail involvement and disease duration over six months negatively impacted outcomes. Our plain-language summary of this paper — not a Tressless recommendation.

This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of intramuscular corticosteroids (IMC) in treating severe alopecia areata (AA) in 101 patients. The treatment involved triamcinolone acetonide injections every 4-6 weeks. Results showed that 80.2% of patients experienced significant hair regrowth (75% regrowth) within a median time of 3.4 months, while 48.5% achieved complete hair regrowth. However, 47.5% of patients experienced a relapse. The most common side effect was an acneiform eruption. The study found that having nail involvement was a negative predictor for significant hair regrowth, and having AA for longer than 6 months was associated with a higher risk of relapse. Despite the high relapse rate, IMC was found to be effective and safe for treating severe or active AA.

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Research cited in this study

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