LAUSR

trichoscopic activity markers preceded the disappearance of a positive HPT in 71 patches (86%) (Fig. 1). Furthermore, atrophy was less frequent in patients monitored with trichoscopy (6.1%) compared to HPT (20.5%; P = 0.007). Discontinuing treatment once the disease becomes inactive may be sufficient to resolve localized AA, as >80% of patches in both groups exhibited ≥75% regrowth during our post-treatment evaluations. In AA, both remnant dystrophic anagen hairs and telogen hairs can shed, leading to a positive HPT even after the immunological attack ceases. Therefore, HPT has limited utility when monitoring AA. Ganjoo et al. assessed trichoscopic findings of AA following intralesional corticosteroids, concluding that the sensitivity of detecting an early response by trichoscopy was significantly higher when compared to clinical examination. Our results indicate that serial trichoscopy is an alternative tool for determining hair loss activity. Furthermore, trichoscopy allows identification of the exact location of active lesions using disease markers, enabling physicians to perform more precise intralesional injections, thereby decreasing the risk of atrophy. This study was supported by a grant from the Korean Health Technology R&D Project, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (HI14C2357).