The Role of Laser and Energy-Assisted Drug Delivery in the Treatment of Alopecia

February 2024 in “ Lasers in Medical Science ”

Eliza Balazic, Ahava Muskat, Yana Kost, Joel L. Cohen, Kseniya Kobets

laser and energy-assisted drug delivery alopecia areata androgenetic alopecia pattern hair loss ablative fractional lasers topical corticosteroids minoxidil non-ablative lasers radiofrequency microneedling microneedling LEADD AA AGA PHL AFL NAFL RFNM

TLDR Lasers and energy-assisted methods show promise for treating hair loss, but more research is needed.

The review evaluates the use of laser and energy-assisted drug delivery (LEADD) in treating alopecia, specifically alopecia areata (AA) and androgenetic alopecia (AGA)/pattern hair loss (PHL). The strongest evidence for LEADD in alopecia treatment involves the use of ablative fractional lasers (AFL) with topical corticosteroids. Minoxidil, combined with all devices (AFL, non-ablative lasers (NAFL), and radiofrequency microneedling (RFNM)), showed a positive effect. However, the superiority of LEADD over monotherapy or microneedling is not consistently proven. All studies showed improvement in alopecia, suggesting that laser monotherapy could be an effective treatment for hair growth. The review concludes that LEADD is a rapidly emerging treatment modality for AGA and AA, but larger, well-designed studies are needed for more definitive conclusions.

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