Alopecia Areata Clinical Case Review

Maryanne Senna, MD, assistant professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School, presents the baseline characteristics of the case:

"So, let's go to our case. This is a 31-year-old female who developed a few asymptomatic patches of hair loss on the scalp. Over 6 months however, her hair loss progressed quickly to involve 95% of the scalp consistent with severe alopecia areata. She had no prior personal or family history of alopecia areata. She had no thyroid disease [and] did not have a notable past medical history. The only other medical condition that she had was mild acne. Her current medications included spironolactone 50 mg once daily, and that was what she was on for many years for her acne. And her lab work-up — including a complete blood count with differential, a complete metabolic profile, lipid panel, hepatitis screen, tuberculosis screen, immunoglobulin E, thyroid function tests, serum pregnancy tests and ferritin — were all normal."