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.

[A critical review of the results of clinical experimentation with topical minoxidil 2%].

The results of clinical double-blind trials using minoxidil 2% demonstrate the real efficacy of the drug in producing satisfactory esthetical results in some 30% of treated patients. One aspect of the results of this research which is not yet clear is the significant increase in the number of hairs, also found in voluntary subjects treated with placebo. In the present study is hypothesised that this increase may be partially explained by the failure to take into account the physiological seasonal variations in hair density, and by the confusion caused by the use of the "non-vello" category which is used to describe terminal (thick) and indeterminate (thin) hairs.