Efficacy of a new combination of a microemulsion and oral supplementation for androgenetic alopecia: an interventional multicentric study.

Background: The aim of this study was to study new therapeutic options for the treatment of female and male androgenetic alopecia (AGA) and to assess the efficacy of a possible new coadjuvant oral and topical therapy, containing a complex of natural substances.

Methods: Sixty individuals affected by mild-to-moderate female and male AGA were enrolled in the study and underwent the oral and topical treatment with a microemulsion formulation for 6 months. At baseline and at 3- and 6-month follow-up, global photographs were taken and three expert operators evaluated photographs using the 7-point scale.

Androgenetic alopecia in women and men: Italian guidelines adapted from European Dermatology Forum/European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology guidelines.

Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is the most common form of alopecia, affecting up to 80% of men and 50% of women in the course of their life. AGA is caused by a progressive reduction in the diameter, length and pigmentation of the hair, resulting from the effects of the testosterone metabolite dihydrotestosterone (DHT) on androgen-sensitive hair follicles. Clinical presentation is different in men and women.

Italian Guidelines in diagnosis and treatment of alopecia areata.

Alopecia areata (AA) is an organ-specific autoimmune disorder that targets anagen phase hair follicles. The course is unpredictable and current available treatments have variable efficacy. Nowadays, there is relatively little evidence on treatment of AA from well-designed clinical trials.

Setting reference values in trichology.

Background: In clinical trichology, reference values are often arbitrary. The difficulty in setting them up depends mostly on the presence of the androgenetic alopecia (AGA) genotype in subjects with clinically unapparent forms. Prepubertal children, who lack 5α-reductase (a real indicator of the AGA phenotype), might provide reference values independent from AGA.

Reduced level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in chronic/relapsing Alopecia Areata.

Current observations link vitamin D deficiency to many autoimmune diseases. There are limited data on vitamin D in Alopecia Areata, an autoimmune disease which in our experience shows seasonality in most of its remitting-relapsing forms. Our results demonstrate the presence of insufficiency of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OH-D) in many patients with various clinical forms, correlated with the expected increase of the values of Parathyroid Hormone (PTH).

Therapeutic hotline. Effectiveness of the association of cetirizine and topical steroids in lichen planus pilaris--an open-label clinical trial.

Lichen planus is considered a T cell-mediated immunological disease. Even mast cells may contribute to the pathogenesis of the disease. Keratinocytes of the basal layer of the skin and/or the hair follicle may represent the "target/victim" of an immune aggression, determining the destruction of the hair follicle and thus scarring alopecia.

An unexpected twist in alopecia areata pathogenesis: are NK cells protective and CD49b+ T cells pathogenic?

Natural killer (NK) cells have become a recent focus of interest in alopecia areata (AA) research. To further investigate their role in an established mouse model of AA, lesional skin from older C3H/HeJ mice with AA was grafted to young C3H/HeJ female mice, and NK cells were depleted by continuous administration of rabbit anti-asialo GM1. As expected, this significantly reduced the number of pure NK cells in murine skin, as assessed by NKp46 quantitative immunohistochemistry.

Alterated integrin expression in lichen planopilaris.

Background: Lichen planopilaris (LPP) is an inflammatory disease characterized by a lymphomononuclear infiltrate surrounding the isthmus and infundibulum of the hair follicle of the scalp, that evolves into atrophic/scarring alopecia. In the active phase of the disease hairs are easily plucked with anagen-like hair-roots. In this study we focused on the expression of integrins and basement membrane components of the hair follicle in active LPP lesions.

Recalcitrant scalp folliculitis: a possible role of herpes simplex virus type 2.

We report the case of a 70-year-old man with a 1 year history of relapsing folliculitis of the scalp. Bacteriological, mycological and the Tzanck tests from the lesions were negative. Histopathological study showed suppurative perifollicular flogosis.