Study of clinical profile in patients with alopecia Areata at a tertiary care hospital

 

 

Abstract              Background: Alopecia areata is an asymptomatic loss of hair in small circumscribed patches, which may remain discrete or may expand into total loss of the scalp hair and even body hairs. It is the second-most frequent cause of non-scarring alopecia, after androgenetic alopecia. The diagnosis is mostly clinical and does not cause difficulty many times. Present study was aimed to study clinical profile of alopecia areata patients at our tertiary care hospital. Material and Methods: This prospective, observational study was conducted in the department of dermatology in (outpatient department) OPD of our hospital. Patients diagnosed or suspected cases of alopecia areata were included Results: A total of 220 patients were included in the present study. Most common age group in our study was 21-30 years with 91patients (41.36%). Out of the total of 220 patients, 124 (56.36 %) were male and 96 (43.64 %) were female patients. The male: female ratio was 1.3:1. Patients with less than one month duration were 29.09 %. The most common group.74.55% patients had a single lesion and the rest 25.45 % had multiple lesions. Scalp was the most commonly involved area, followed by face. Area wise parietal region was the commonest area involved in 73 (33.18%) patients, followed by frontal region in 49(22.27%) patients. We noted patchy alopecia areata as the most common pattern in 169 (76.82%) patients followed by ophiasis pattern in 15 (6.82%) patients. We noted pitting nail changes in 12.73 % patients, no changes in 79.09 % patients. Conclusion: We noted younger age of onset in (21-40 years), with approximately equal incidence in both genders. Single patches, patchy pattern noted in our study.

Key Words: Alopecia areata; Hair loss;