A Comparative Study of Oral Cyclosporine and Betamethasone Minipulse Therapy in the Treatment of Alopecia Areata

BACKGROUND Various systemic agents have been assessed for the treatment of alopecia areata (AA); however, there is a paucity of comparative studies. OBJECTIVE To assess and compare cyclosporine and betamethasone minipulse therapy as treatments for AA with regard to effectiveness and safety. METHODS Data were collected from 88 patients who received at least 3 months of oral cyclosporine (n=51) or betamethasone minipulse therapy (n=37) for AA. Patients with ≥50% of terminal hair regrowth in the alopecic area were considered responders. RESULTS The responder of the cyclosporine group was 54.9% and that of the betamethasone minipulse group was 37.8%. In the cyclosporine group, patients with mild AA were found to respond better to the treatment. Based on the patient self-assessments, 70.6% of patients in the cyclosporine group and 43.2% of patients in the betamethasone minipulse group rated their hair regrowth as excellent or good. Side effects were less frequent in the cyclosporine group. CONCLUSION Oral cyclosporine appeared to be superior to betamethasone minipulse therapy in terms of treatment effectiveness and safety.