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“Turban PUVAsol:” A simple, novel, effective, and safe treatment option for advanced and refractory cases of alopecia areata
Banashree Majumdar1, Abhishek De2, Soumyodhriti Ghosh3, Amrita Sil4, Aarti Sarda5, Koushik Lahiri5, Gobinda Chatterjee6, Sudip Das2
1 Dr. Banashree's Skin and Cosmetic Clinic, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
2 Department of Dermatology, Calcutta National Medical College, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
3 Department of Pediatric Surgery, JK Lon Hospital, Jaipur, India
4 Department of Pharmacology, IPGMER, Kolkata, India
5 Wizderm specialty skin and hair clinic, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
6 Department of Dermatology, IPGMER, Kolkata, India
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Abhishek De
Flat Number 3A, Arcadia1, Dream Park, Sonarpur Station Road, Kolkata - 700 103, West Bengal
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/ijt.ijt_95_17
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Background: Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune characterized by nonscarring loss of scalp and/or body hairs. Topical PUVA has been reported to have good effect in AA. The modification of topical PUVA which we call, “Turban PUVA-sol,” is a method of localized immunotherapy using psoralen solution followed by sun exposure. Aims: We aim to study the therapeutic role and side effect profile of turban PUVA in the treatment of advanced and refractory AA. Methodology: Fifteen consecutive patients of alopecia subtotalis (at least 70% of scalp hair loss), totalis, and universalis, attending the dermatology outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital in eastern India were subjected to “Turban PUVA-sol” after duly signed consent. Alternate day therapy was given. Results: At the end of 10 months of study, 2 (13%) out of fifteen patients were lost to follow-up for some unknown reasons. The severity of alopecia tool scores showed a significant (P = 0.0002) decrease posttreatment. Correlation between the severity of alopecia and grade of improvement showed a rho value of −0.453. In the remaining thirteen patients, using physician global assessment (PGA), 4 (26%) showed good response, 4 (26%) showed moderate response, 3 showed mild (20%) response, and 2 patients (13%) showed negligible response. Three out of four patients who showed good improvement in PGA showed more than 80% of new hair growth. Side effects are minimal with some patients complaining of mild irritation and scaling. Conclusion: We found topical Turban PUVAsol to be a very cost-effective and safe treatment option for AA.
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