P7.78 ALOPECIA AREATA IN EYEBROWS TREATED WITH SUPERFICIAL CRYOTHERAPY : CASE REPORTS

Soo Young Jeon, Bong Kyun Ahn, Sanghoon Lee, Won-Soo Lee

Department of Dermatology and Institute of Hair and cosmetic Medicine, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Korea

Alopecia areata (AA) is a chronic, autoimmune inflammatory disease of the hair follicle usually manifesting as round or ovoid patchy areas of hair loss with discrete borders. It can occur on the scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes, axillary and pubic areas. Traditionally, topical steroid ointment application and intralesional injection with triamcinolone acetonide are used in alopecia areata of the eyebrows. In addition, immunotherapy using diphenylcyclopropenone and dermatosurgical methods also have been applied. Cryotherapy has been commonly used in the field of dermatology to remove intraepidermal lesions and to treat benign or malignant skin tumors. Theoretically, if cryotherapy is applied to diseases of the hair superficially, one can expect regrowth of the hair. The supposed mechanism is that cryotherapy dilates the vessels around hair follicles, thus improving follicular nutritional status. We report our recent experiences, which show that superficial cryotherapy with liquid nitrogen appears to promote eyebrow hair growth in several patients with apolecia areata. Cryotherapy of eyebrow alopecia areata may be regarded as a safe, effective and easy mode of treatment.