Real-life effectiveness and safety of baricitinib in patients with severe alopecia areata: A 24-week Italian study.

BACKGROUND: Alopecia areata is an autoimmune condition characterized by rapid hair loss in the scalp, eyebrows and eyelashes, for which treatments are limited. Baricitinib, an oral inhibitor of Janus kinases 1 and 2, has been recently approved to treat alopecia areata. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study involving 23 medical centres across Italy, enrolling patients affected by severe alopecia areata (SALT >50), for more than 6 months. Clinical and trichoscopic assessment was performed at each visit and impact on quality of life, anxiety and depression were evaluated using the Skindex-16 and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), respectively. RESULTS: A total of 118 patients were enrolled, with a mean age of 39 years and a mean SALT >95. The mean value of the SALT score decreased from an average of 96.6 (±8.23 sd) to 48 (±35.2 sd) after 24 weeks of treatment and 42.3% of patients achieved a SALT 30, 31.3% a SALT 20 and 20.3% a SALT 10 by Week 24. Trichoscopic signs showed fewer yellow dots and black dots significantly earlier than hair regrowth. Adverse events during the treatment period (mild laboratory test abnormalities) were reported in 12.7% patients. No drop-out were registered. CONCLUSION: Data on the effectiveness and safety of baricitinib are promising and support the use of this drug in severe forms of AA, also in the early stages. We also suggest performing trichoscopy in order to reveal early response to therapy.

Self-induced nail disorders (SINDs): What do we know so far?

Self-induced nail disorders are a broad group of different clinical manifestations that share the common trait of being caused more or less voluntarily by the patient. These are distinct conditions within the clinical spectrum of onychotillomania. Most patients diagnosed with these disorders have psychiatric co-morbidities, and a multidisciplinary approach is thus highly recommended. The purpose of this review is to describe the most common clinical features encountered during daily nail consultations and to provide useful diagnostic tools and therapeutic tips for the best approach to these conditions.

Clinical study on the efficacy and tolerability of a topical regenerative treatment in patients with telogen effluvium and mild androgenetic alopecia.

Hair loss may change the quality of life since modern society considers hair an essential element in beauty definition. The most common causes of hair loss are androgenetic alopecia (AGA) and telogen effluvium (TE). AGA requires a lifetime use of minoxidil or finasteride (and sometimes they lose efficacy over the years), whereas TE has no standardized therapy available. Our study focuses on a novel topical regenerative preparation that, by mimicking autologous PRP, can safely and efficiently improve hair loss in patients affected by TE and AGA.