Intralesional Triamcinolone Acetonide Versus Topical Betamethasone Valearate in the Management of Localized Alopecia Areata.

OBJECTIVE To compare the efficacy of intralesional triamcinolone and topical betamethasone in the management of localized alopecia areata. STUDY DESIGN A randomized trial. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Dermatology OPD, PNS Shifa Hospital, Karachi, from January to June 2013. METHODOLOGY Patients aged 18 - 50 years with localized alopecia areata were included in the study. Exclusion criteria were more than three patches and those on already steroid or immunosuppressive therapy. Patients were randomly allocated in two treatment groups: Group A received intralesional triamcinolone acetonide (10 mg/ml) and Group B received topical betamethasone valearate cream 0.1% twice daily. Final outcome was ascertained as re-growth of hair on 12th week of follow-up and labelled as efficacy. The data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 11. Relevant descriptive statistics were calculated. Chi-square test was used to compare efficacy of hair re-growth in both groups. P-value < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS A total of 226 patients were enrolled, 113 in each group. The mean age was 34.36 ± 8.7 years. One hundred and sixty-four (72.6%) were males and 62 (27.4%) were females with male to female ratio of 2.6:1. Hair re-growth was seen in 84 (74.3%) of the intralesional steroid group and in 53 (46.9%) of the topical betamethasone group (p < 0.001), which was a significant difference. CONCLUSION Intralesional triamcinolone had a better efficacy in the treatment of localized alopecia areata as compared to topical betamethasone valearate.