Diphencyprone immunotherapy for alopecia areata: Prospective clinical study

Alopecia areata (AA) persistent for a minimum of 6 months and resistant to other treatments and/or severe AA are indications to use diphencyprone (DPCP). The aim of this prospective study is to assess the results of treatment with DPCP immunotherapy at the Department of Dermatology Hacettepe University. DPCP immunotherapy was planned for 14 AA patients during October 2002 and June 2004. Following successful sensitization done on 4cm2 area using 2% DPCP, DPCP with a concentration of 0,001 was initiated to one half of the scalp. When significant hair growth on this side of the scalp was observed, DPCP was applied to the whole scalp. Six patients were lost to follow-up during the study. One patient who developed angioedema was dropped out of the study despite significant hair growth on one side of the scalp. Mean age of 7 patients who were able to finish the study were 9 years (range 5-43), and the extent of involvement ranged between %25 and %100. Of 7 patients, 6 (86%) grew hair on the treated side after a mean of 25 sessions, 1 (14%) did not respond and excluded from the study. Of 6 patients who grew hair on the treated site, 1 (17%) lost his hairs, 5 (83%) showed cosmetically acceptable results after a mean of 34 sessions. Of 5 patients who showed cosmetically acceptable results 1 lost his hair during maintenance. Our results indicate that DPCP immunotherapy might be a good alternative for selected patients.