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Alopecia areata treated with dimethyl fumarate: A case series
Author(s) -
Muscianese Marta,
Magri Francesca,
Leoncini Pier Paolo,
Fortuna Maria C.,
Caro Gemma,
Rossi Alfredo
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
dermatologic therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.595
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1529-8019
pISSN - 1396-0296
DOI - 10.1111/dth.14158
Subject(s) - alopecia areata , medicine , dimethyl fumarate , dermatology , series (stratigraphy) , immunology , multiple sclerosis , paleontology , biology
Alopecia areata is an autoimmune condition leading to non‐scarring hair loss. Clinically, several presentations ranging from single or few small patches to complete hair loss are documented. The management of alopecia areata is challenging and all available treatments do not ensure a long‐term remission to assess the safety and efficacy of systemic dimethyl fumarate in alopecia areata patients not responding to other systemic treatments. After obtaining informed consent, we administered off‐label dimethyl fumarate to 10 adult patients with alopecia areata, for a period ranging from 4 to 37 weeks. Medical information for each patient and the severity of alopecia tool (SALT) score before and after dimethyl fumarate administration were recorded. During the treatment, 50% of patients (5 patients out of 10) had a slight improvement of hair regrowth; it was mainly as partial hair regrowth (ranging from 8% to 32%) and only one patient (10%) achieved > 50% terminal hair regrowth. Authors conclude that dimethyl fumarate is not advisable as a treatment of alopecia areata, also considering the risk of fumaric acid esters toxicity.