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Twice Weekly 5 mg Dexamethasone Oral Pulse in the Treatment of Extensive Alopecia Areata
Author(s) -
Sharma Vinod Kumar,
Gupta Somesh
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
the journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1346-8138
pISSN - 0385-2407
DOI - 10.1111/j.1346-8138.1999.tb02049.x
Subject(s) - alopecia areata , dexamethasone , medicine , dermatology , pulse (music) , optics , physics , detector
Thirty patients (20 males, 10 females) with widespread alopecia areata (25 extensive alopecia areata, 5 alopecia areata) for a mean period of 4.2 years were included in the study. All patients above 12 years were administered 5 mg dexamethasone oral pulse on two consecutive days every week. Three children (<12 years) received 2.5 mg to 3.5 mg dexamethasone oral biweekly pulse. Patients who had received treatment for a minimum period of 12 weeks were evaluated for terminal hair growth. Complete to excellent (75–95%) hair growth was observed in 16 (63.3%) patients. Growth was good (50–74%) in 2 cases and poor (<50%) in 3 (10%) cases. Six (20%) patients has no growth of terminal hair. Complete to excellent growth of hair was obtained after a mean period of 5.35 months (range 3–10 months). Relapse occurred in one case each after three and six months but hair regrew with re‐treatment. Side effects of corticosteriods were frequent, seen in 8 (26.6%) patients, but were mild. In only one case, treatment had to be discontinued. We propose that twice weekly 5 mg dexamethasone oral pulse for six months may be considered as one of the modalities in the treatment of extensive long standing alopecia areata.