Alopecia Areata Awareness

In this video, Sonal Choudhary, MD, assistant professor in the department of dermatology at the University of Pittsburgh, discusses:

• available treatment options for patients with alopecia areata, including hypotensive corticosteroids, intralesional corticosteroids, creams, contact immunotherapy, laser therapies, UV-A light, oral corticosteroids, disease-modifying antirheumatic medications and Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors, and factors that go into treatment decisions;
• treatments in the pipeline for alopecia areata, including the JAK inhibitor tofacitinib (Xeljanz, Pfizer) and platelet rich plasma;
• the care of alopecia areata in pediatric patients, and how “topicals are the way to go most of the time”;
• how alopecia areata can affect patients’ mental health, including its impact on self-image, which can lead to identity crisis, depression and anxiety;
• the role social media can play in alopecia areata awareness, such as providing information about the condition and connect patients with others who have alopecia areata; and
• the importance of alopecia areata awareness to providers, and how patients with more social support, knowledge and awareness of the disease have greater satisfaction and “are more comfortable in going through the treatment plan, and obviously in that case, the result is much better.”