Evaluation of the effects of "Millet Extract, Wheat Germ Oil, Calcium Pantothenate and L-Cystine Combination" therapy in women with diffuse alopecia by using "Digital phototrichogram"

?Telogen effluvium? is an abnormality of hair cycling that results inexcessive loss of telogen hair and it is one of the most common alopecia type thatexists in women with diffuse alopecia. There are several oral aminoacid andvitamin combinations that are used in the treatment of diffuse alopecia. In theliterature several studies show the effectiveness of these combinations.In the evaluation of diffuse hair loss and the response to the treatmentgiven additional hair evaluation methods are required along with clinical findings.Digital phototrichogram (Trichoscan) is an evaluation method developedby Hoffmann. Using special software, hair growth rate, hair density, hair diameterand anagen/telogen ratio are calculated in 20 minutes through this method.In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the effects of a formulation composedof ?Millet extract, Wheat Germ Oil, Calcium Pantothenate and L-Cystine? inwomen with diffuse alopecia by using ?Digital Phototrichogram (Trichoscan)?.Female patients who applied to Gazi University Faculty of MedicineDepartment of Dermatology between January 2008 and November 2008 with thecomplaint of diffuse hair loss were evaluated. Digital phototrichogram test wasapplied to the frontal and occipital regions of the patients. Using this method,anagen and telogen ratios were determined. The telogen ratios over 20% areaccepted to be pathological. 53 female patients whose ages were between 18 and50 and who were diagnosed as telogen effluvium type diffuse alopecia accordingto clinical examination and digital phototrichogram were admitted in the study.No abnormality was found in their blood tests.The patients were given a capsule (Priorin®) composed of 140 mg milletextract, 271 mg wheat germ oil, 2 mg L-cystine and 10 mg calcium pantothenatthree times a day for three months.The criteria for assessing the efficacy of therapy were the number of hairloss per day, hair pull test and digital phototrichogram.While the number of daily average hair loss was 84,1 ± 55,9 beforetreatment, it was determined that 44,9 ± 28 after three months of treatment. Thereduction of daily average hair loss after the treatment of patients was statisticallysignificant.Statistically significant difference was found between the hair pull testresults before and after the treatment of our patients. While the pull test waspositive in 54,7% of the patients before the treatment, this ratio decreased to 5,7%after the treatment.Before the treatment, the average anagen ratio was determined to be69,0±11,2 in the frontal region, and 72,3±9,4 in the occipital region. After thetreatment, the anagen ratio increased to 76,4±11,2 in the frontal region, and79,9±8,6 in the occipital region. The increase of anagen ratio in the frontal andoccipital regions after the treatment was found to be statistically significant.As a result it is found that the formulation composed of millet extract,wheat germ oil, L-cystine and calcium pantothenat may be effective in thetreatment of telogen effluvium. However, controlled studies including placebo arerequired for larger groups of diffuse alopecia patients.We also conclude that digital phototrichogram is an objective and effectivemethod for both monitoring alopecia patients and the effects of the treatmentgiven.