Background: Alopecia areata has a wide range of different clinical presentations. It may present as localized or diffuse hair
thinness without hair loss, a small patch of hair loss or may progress to alopecia totalis and universalis.
Objectives:
Determination of
clinical
patterns of alopecia areata
in Kerman
province and to compare the results with other studies in other countries.
Patients & Methods: 952 patients with alopecia areata out of 25186 new cases
referred to skin clinics in Kerman from June
2000 till June 2002 were evaluated for age, sex, family history of alopecia areata, extent of hair loss and history of infectious diseases.
Results: 3.78% of all new cases referred to skin clinics suffered from alopecia areata. The male to female ratio was 2.6 to 1 and the most
frequent clinical presentation of alopecia was round to oval type. Hair loss was confined to
the scalp in 252 cases(26.5%). 216 cases (22.7%) had body hair loss without scalp alopecia, and 484 patients(50.8%) developed a combination of scalp and body hair loss.
The combination pattern was significantly more frequent in the firsJ; three decades of life.
Conclusion: Alopecia areata has a relatively
high
prevalence in Kerman province. It
involves both scalp and body in the majority of cases especially in the first three decades of
life.