A novel 311-nm Titanium:Sapphire laser therapy for alopecia areata: a pilot study of 19 patients

Excerpt

Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune skin disorder causing hair loss, thus, often negatively impacting patients’ quality of life. Current treatment modalities for AA consist of intralesional corticosteroid injection, topical immunotherapy, and topical and systemic corticosteroids, but have substantial disadvantages such as the injection-associated pain, allergic sensitization, and various adverse effects [1]. Laser treatment using a 308-nm excimer laser (EL) has been reported to have benefits in treating AA with a non-pharmaceutical manner [2]. A recently introduced gain-switched 311-nm Titanium:Sapphire laser (TSL) has been used in the treatment of vitiligo, with a therapeutic efficacy similar to that of EL [3, 4]. Thus, in the present study, we evaluated the effectiveness and safety of the 311-nm TSL in the treatment of AA. …