BACKGROUND Alopecia areata (AA) is a common, recurrent, autoimmune hair disorder. It has been found that vitamin D deficiency is associated with many autoimmune diseases. AIMS The current study aimed to estimate serum levels of 25-hydroxy vitamin D in patients with AA. MATERIALS AND METHODS This case-control study included 60 patients with AA and 60 age, gender, skin phototype, and body mas...

Alopecia areata (AA) is a common form of localized, non-scarring hair loss. It is characterized by the loss of hair in patches, total loss of scalp hair (alopecia totalis), or total loss of body hair (alopecia universalis). The etiopathogenesis of the disease is still unclear, but there is evidence that autoimmunity and endocrine dysfunction may be involved. The aim of this study was to determi...

Alopecia totalis (AT) and alopecia universalis (AU), severe forms of alopecia areata (AA), show distinguishable clinical characteristics from those of patch AA. In this study, we investigated the clinical characteristics of AT/AU according to the onset age. Based on the onset age around adolescence (< or ≥ 13 yr), 108 patients were classified in an early-onset group and the other 179 patients i...

OBJECTIVE To use intensive regimen of pulse steroid in the severe forms of Alopecia areata. METHODS This prospective randomized study was conducted at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia between 2003 to 2009. Patients with Alopecia universalis, Alopecia totalis, or Alopecia ophiasis were assigned to one of the 3 treatment groups: Group A received oral mega pulse m...

RATIONALE Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy is caused primarily by mutations in genes encoding desmosome proteins. Ventricular arrhythmias are the cardinal and typically early manifestations, whereas myocardial fibroadiposis is the pathological hallmark. Homozygous DSP (desmoplakin) and JUP (junction protein plakoglobin) mutations are responsible for a subset of patients with arrhythmogenic cardiom...

BACKGROUND Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune disease characterized by hair loss mediated by CD8+ T cells. There are no reliably effective therapies for AA. Based on recent developments in the understanding of the pathomechanism of AA, JAK inhibitors appear to be a therapeutic option; however, their efficacy for the treatment of AA has not been systematically examined. METHODS This was a 2...

Ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) is a non-invasive imaging technique used in examination of several skin diseases but never in imaging hair and scalp diseases. Main objective of this investigation was assessment of the efficacy of UBM for in vivo visualization of hair follicles in cases of alopecia areata (AA) and correlation of findings with histopathological findings. This study included 30 pat...

A young adult male patient presented with diffuse hair loss of two years duration. Clinical features and investigations were suggestive of loose anagen hair syndrome. He developed alopecia totalis during follow-up. Scalp biopsy revealed perifollicular lymphocytic infiltration. A diagnosis of adult-onset loose anagen hair syndrome with alopecia areata was made. Introduction Loose anagen hair syn...

Three cases of severe and irreversible alopecia occurring in patients with common variable immunodeficiency are described. In all three cases, hair loss developed after the diagnosis of immune deficiency; one of the patients also had extensive vitiligo. A fourth patient had vitiligo in the absence of alopecia. No change in the alopecia or vitiligo was noted in any patient as a result of immunog...

Alopecia areata (AA) is a heterogeneous disease characterized by nonscarring hair loss on the scalp or other parts of the body. A wide range of clinical presentations can occur-from a single patch of hair loss (alopecia unilocularis, AUl), multiple patches (alopecia multilocularis, AM) to complete loss of hair on the scalp (alopecia totalis, AT) or the entire body (alopecia universalis, AU). Th...