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Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Alopecia Areata

  • Review Article
  • Alternative Medicine in Alopecia Areata
  • Published:
American Journal of Clinical Dermatology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Alopecia areata is an unpredictable hair-loss condition. As there is no cure for alopecia areata and no effective conventional therapy, a substantial number of alopecia areata patients resort to complementary and alternative medical remedies and therapies (CAM). This review on the application of CAM in alopecia areata addresses two pertinent aspects. First, it provides a current overview of the published medical literature on CAM used in alopecia areata, and alopecia areata-related studies. Second, it presents a thorough assessment of the considerations and limitations of the use of CAM for the treatment of alopecia areata.

A systematic MEDLINE search yielded 13 studies of the clinical use of CAM in the management of alopecia areata, all belonging to one of the five main categories of CAM. Methodological quality was analyzed using objective assessment scores (Wilson and Lawrence scores). Unfortunately, no study was of sufficient internal validity to provide robust evidence of the benefit of CAM. This might be attributable to several specific disease characteristics of alopecia areata, which require an especially solid trial design to properly assess the therapeutic effects of CAM. The review concludes with some recommendations for improving the quality of trials incorporating CAM in the treatment of alopecia areata

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Acknowledgments

No sources of funding were used to assist in the preparation of this review. The authors have no conflicts of interest that are directly relevant to the content of this review.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alopecia Areata Patient Organization, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Frank J. H. M. van den Biggelaar

  2. Department of Radiology, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Frank J. H. M. van den Biggelaar &  Jacobus F. A. Jansen PhD

  3. School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Joost Smolders &  Jacobus F. A. Jansen PhD

  4. Department of Medical Physics and Radiology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 YorkAvenue, New York, New York, 10021, USA

    Jacobus F. A. Jansen PhD

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  1. Frank J. H. M. van den Biggelaar
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  3. Jacobus F. A. Jansen PhD
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Correspondence to Jacobus F. A. Jansen PhD.

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van den Biggelaar, F.J.H.M., Smolders, J. & Jansen, J.F.A. Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Alopecia Areata. AM J Clin Dermatol 11, 11–20 (2010). https://doi.org/10.2165/11530040-000000000-00000

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