Hair loss: Combination therapy lets hair sprout
Larissa Melville completed her traineeship in the editorial team of . After studying biology at Ludwig Maximilians University and the Technical University of Munich, she first got to know digital media online at Focus and then decided to learn medical journalism from scratch.
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.MunichCircular hair loss, often at a young age, can have a major impact on the quality of life. The good news for those affected: The combination of two herbs causes the hair to sprout again.
Round hairless areas the size of a coin, especially on the back of the head and on the sides - this is how alopecia areata, the circular hair loss, becomes noticeable. Various therapies are available to those affected. One of these is treatment of the head with diphenylcyclopropenes (DPCP). But it doesn't help everyone.
Test with active ingredient in psoriasis
That is why Turkish researchers led by Murat Durdu from Baskent University in Adana are now testing a new approach: the combination of DPCP with cignolin. So far, this active ingredient has mainly been used successfully for psoriasis. In their study, they compared the effectiveness of monotherapy with DPCP and treatment with DPCP combined with cignolin.
A total of 47 patients took part in the study. All of them initially suffered from very severe alopecia areata with over 50 percent hair loss and / or had not responded to other therapies. Over a period of 30 weeks, the researchers treated 22 of them exclusively with DPCD solution and the remaining 25 with DPCP and cignolin solution.
Growth accelerator
The result: In 36 percent of the test persons who were only treated with DPCP, the hair grew back completely. This value could be increased significantly with the combination therapy. Those who treated their bald spots with both preparations could look forward to full hair in 72 percent of the cases. And not only the hair on the head sprout better, but also the eyebrows, eyelashes and the beard. In addition, with the use of DPCP and Cignolin, the hair grew back faster.
Both methods had side effects. Follicle inflammation, hyperpigmentation and discoloration of the skin and hair, however, were the main struggles of the test subjects of the combination therapy.
Interaction of the medicinal substances
The scientists consider the new treatment with DPCP and cignolin to be clearly superior to monotherapy in terms of effectiveness and the duration of hair growth. They suspect that a synergistic effect produces the better effect - that is, the way in which the two solutions work together. Both active ingredients are known for their anti-inflammatory effects.
Immune cells attack hair roots
Circular hair loss is an autoimmune disease. The body's own defense cells mistakenly attack the hair roots: hair growth is stopped and the hair falls out. The bald spots usually enlarge over time. In extreme cases, the hair can fall out completely. The disease occurs at any age, but most of the patients are children and adolescents. The loss of hair is often accompanied by a loss of self-confidence and the joy of life.
100 hairs a day
Everyone loses hair every day. It only becomes a concern if more than 100 hairs per day get stuck in the comb. Around two million Germans suffer from pathological hair loss - with very different causes. Most of the time, there is a hormonal disorder behind it. Alopecia areata is the second possible cause. According to estimates by the experts, around one to two percent of all people are affected.
Source:
Durdu M. et al .: Efficacy and safety of diphenylcyclopropenone alone or in combination with anthralin in the treatment of chronic extensive alopecia areata: A retrospective case series. Journal of the America Academy of Dermatology. DOI: 10.1016 / j.jaad.2015.01.008
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