Experience of a hair disease unit: Analysis of 1.617 cases

Objective: There are few epidemiological descriptive data on the prevalence of hair diseases in our country. In this study, we aimed to have information about the hair diseases observed in our region, to describe the characteristics of patients admitted to our unit and to supply data for the diagnostic approach which will contribute to developing undergraduate and postgraduate training programs. Methods: In this descriptive epidemiologic study, data of 1.617 consecutive new patients admitted to our University Hair Diseases Unit between May 2011 and May 2014 were analyzed retrospectively. Results: Hair diseases were observed in 7% of the patients who applied to the dermatology outpatient clinic. The mean age of patients was 32.28±15.45 years (0-84 years, range) and female/male ratio was 2.26. Complaints were as chronic persistence in 60% of the patients and 69.1% of the patients described their period of complaint in terms of years at the time of admission. The most frequent hair disorders were androgenetic alopecia (AGA) (45.8%), telogen effluvium (39.4%) and alopecia areata (17.8%). Trichoscopic examination was used in 339 patients (20.9%) and characteristic trichoscopic features contributed to the diagnosis in 85% of them. Conclusion: In our region, admissions due to hair problems have an important ratio among general outpatient clinic visits. For the physicians, being better informed about AGA, telogen effluvium and alopecia areata and being able to perform trichoscopy as the diagnostic modality will increase the success in the diagnosis of hair diseases.