Treatment-resistant alopecia areata. Response to combination therapy with minoxidil plus anthralin

Anthralin/dithranol in dermatology

“…All those who responded to the treatment had evidence of hair regrowth by week 12. The rapidity and extent of hair regrowth were greater with combination therapy than with either of the drugs 72 …”

Comparing the Efficiency of Elidel Cream and Elidel Accompanied With Tretinoin Cream in Treatment of Alopecia Areata

“…In another study, the combination of 5% minoxidil and 0.5% anthralin was used to treat 51 patients with severe alopecia areata and only 11% of patients achieved cosmetically acceptable hair regrowth (17). In another study, 61% of patients using 0.1% betamethasone vale rate foam showed more than 75% hair regrowth while only 27% of patients who underwent treatment with 0.05% betamethasone dipropionate lotion had the same rate of regrowth (18).…”

“…Up to now, numerous studies have been conducted on treatment of alopecia areata and many of those researches have compared the efficacy of different topical agents on hair regrowth (14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20). In a comparative study of topical 0.05% tretinoin, topical betamethasone dipropionate lotion, and 0.25% dithranol paste, satisfaction was reported by 55% of patients who were treated with topical tretinoin in comparison with 70% and 35% of cases who were respectively underwent topical steroid and dithranol therapy (14).…”

Extensive alopecia areata: Not necessarily recalcitrant to therapy!

“…Fiedler et al .,[8] used topical minoxidil and anthralin in 51 patients having extensive treatment-resistant alopecia and cosmetic response was seen in 11% with maintenance in 80%. It was hypothesized in this study that combination of topical anthralin and minoxidil was synergistic and more effective than monotherapy alone.…”