EVALUATION AND PROGNOSTICATION OF TRICHOSCOPIC FINDINGS IN PATIENTS WITH ALOPECIA AREATA (AA) BEFORE AND AFTER APPLICATION OF DIPHENYLCYCLOPROPENONE (DPCP).

Background: Alopecia areata (AA) is a chronic inammatory disease of hair follicles, causing non-scarring alopecia. Trichoscopy is a noninvasive and inexpensive diagnostic procedure used increasingly in dermatology and hence can be used to evaluate ndings in alopecia areata. Aims And Objectives: Ÿ To evaluate the clinical and trichoscopic ndings of patients with AA. Ÿ To identify prognostic factors in diphenylcyclopropenone (DPCP) response rate. Materials And Methods: Sixteen patients with AA were included, and baseline hair loss was calculated based on the severity of alopecia tool (SALT) score. Trichoscopic ndings of AA were evaluated at baseline before DPCP and at the end of 12 th week after DPCP application. Results: Men (M: F=4.3:1) with a mean age of 33.6 years were commonly affected with a mean duration of 9.9 months in this study. Most of the patients had localized type with three patches over the scalp and a SALT subclass of S1. The mean regrowth was 82.56 %. Trichoscopic ndings like black dots, depigmented vellus hairs, broken hairs, depigmented terminal hair, and exclamation mark hairs decreased whereas pigmented vellus hairs increased after the 12th week. Insufcient sample size Black dots, depigment Limitations: Conclusion: ed vellus hairs, broken hairs, and exclamatory mark hairs are considered to be bad prognostic factors and were found to be reduced with DPCP in our study whereas the signicant increase of pigmented vellus hairs which is a good prognostic factor was noted after DPCP when compared to baseline. This study concludes that trichoscopy is an invaluable tool in diagnosing AA and assessing the treatment response to DPCP.