Effectiveness of Platelet Rich Plasma in Female Type Androgenetic Alopecia
Project no. 104 · Status: Kapanmış · 2017
Summary
Introduction: Female type androgenetic alopecia (AGA); is a disease caused by the effects of dihydrotestosterone in women with genetic predisposition. The disease in which the frontal hair line is preserved, proceeds by the miniaturization of the terminal hairs on the frontal and parietal areas and the hair loss. The diagnosis is established by the history and clinical features, where the laboratory tests are helpful just for the differential diagnosis of the other alopecia types. The treatment choices are limited. The only treatment which is approved by FDA is the topical minoxidil 2% solution. Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) procedure bases the release of the endogen wound healing and growth factors of the platelets and injection of them to the patient. Recently, it has been used for male and female type AGA. However, the number of research about this issue is limited. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the efficacy of PRP therapy in female type androgenic alopecia. Methods and Materials: This study included 20 patients in the premenopausal period who visited to the Ege University Medical Faculty Department of Dermatology and Venereal Diseases, between June 2017 and August 2017 and received a female type androgenetic alopecia diagnosis. The age of these patients, the duration of the illness, and the treatments previously used were questioned. The disease severity was evaluated according to Ludwig scale. Before the procedures to be performed each patient were explained verbally and detailed informed consent forms were read and approved. For each patient, three sessions of PRP were performed with a three-week micro needling technique. Counts made by three dermatologists on equal terms were compared. The interobserver variability was calculated as 15%. The intraobserver variability was 10%. When the efficacy was assessed, treatment response above 15% was considered significant. In addition, the total number of hair before treatment and the total number of hair changes in the first and third months after three sessions of treatment were also calculated. In the statistical analysis of the obtained data, nonparametric tests were preferred and Friedman and Wilcoxon tests were used. p value of smaller than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Our prospective self-controlled study is approved by Ege University Clinical Research Ethics Committee (17-medicine-032). Results: Twenty female patients who were clinically diagnosed with androgenic alopecia were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 40.95 ± 5.5 median 42.5, the youngest 28 and the oldest 47. According to Ludwig classification, 19 patients (95%) were evaluated as Ludwig II and 1 patient (5%) as Ludwig type III in the examinations of the patients. Patients mean alopecia duration was 9.7 ± 4.83 median 10 years (4-20 years). Treatment response in seven patients (35%) was below 15% in the first month and response in 13 patients (65%) was above 15%. At the third month of follow-up, 3 patients (15%) were below 15%, and 17 patients (85%) were over 15%. The average hair count of the 20 patients before treatment was 135.20 ± 30.6, mimimum of 94 and maximum of 213 hair counts. After one month after the end of three sessions of treatment, the m