Monitoring Response to Platelet-Rich Plasma in Patients with Alopecia Areata Using Optical Coherence Tomography: A Case Series
November 2020
in “
Journal of Investigative Dermatology Symposium Proceedings
”
TLDR Platelet-Rich Plasma treatment improved hair growth and reduced inflammation in patients with patchy hair loss, but not in total hair loss, and Optical Coherence Tomography was useful in tracking this progress.
The document presents a case series study where three patients with Alopecia Areata (AA), an autoimmune hair loss condition, were treated with Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) and monitored using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). Two patients with patchy AA and one with alopecia universalis were treated with PRP three times at 6-week intervals. The results showed an increase in hair density and improvement in inflammation at week 24 for the patients with patchy AA. However, the patient with alopecia universalis did not experience any significant change in follicular activity. The study suggests that PRP may have potential in inflammatory regulation and hair regrowth in patchy AA, but not in alopecia universalis. Additionally, OCT could be valuable in quantitatively assessing hair growth progress throughout a treatment course.
