Alopecia areata in children: treatment with diphencyprone

We assessed the efficacy of diphencyprone (DPCP) treatment in a total of 26 children with alopecia areata (AA). Sixteen children had alopecia areata totalis (AAT) and 10 had alopecia areata localis (AAL). DPCP is an absolute contact sensitizer. Twenty-five children could be sensitized with a 2% DPCP solution, whereas one child could not be sensitized. Patients were treated, once a week for at least 3 months, for up to 1 year. Twenty-one of the 25 (84%) children showed hair regrowth to a greater or lesser extent after DPCP treatment. Eight of the 25 (32%) children showed cosmetically acceptable hair regrowth. Cosmetically acceptable regrowth at the end of the study was seen in four of the 15 (27%) children with AAT and in four of the 10 (40%) children with AAL. These results are comparable with those reported in an earlier study in children with AA. Our opinion is that DPCP is a beneficial therapeutic agent in children with severe AAT and AAL showing no spontaneous remission.