Eyebrows Are Important in the Treatment of Alopecia Areata

Abstract

Alopecia areata affects not only scalp hair but also other sites of body hair, including eyebrows. Our objective was to investigate the importance of eyebrows in the treatment goals of patients with alopecia areata. Through an online questionnaire, subjects were asked to assess satisfaction with the visually depicted level of response to treatment, using edited photographs depicting a range of eyebrows and scalp hair growth. The questionnaire was completed by 1,741 adults. Absent or partial growth of eyebrows and scalp hair elicited <25% satisfaction. Images depicting either complete eyebrows or complete scalp hair achieved satisfaction in >50% of participants. More participants were satisfied with complete eyebrows and no scalp hair (69%) than complete eyebrows and partial scalp hair (51%). Only when both eyebrows and scalp hair were completely regrown did extreme satisfaction levels reach 90.4%. Limitations include the online nature of the survey, lack of control group, and self-reported severity of alopecia areata in participants. These results suggest that eyebrows may be as important as scalp hair for patients assessing theoretical responses to treatment for alopecia areata. Future clinical studies should consider growth of eyebrows as an outcome measure on par with scalp hair growth.