Adjunct Treatment with Platelet-rich Plasma for the Treatment of Inflammatory Alopecia in an Adult Filipino Female with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease manifesting a wide range of symptoms from mucocutaneous to widespread involvement of multiple organs. A total of 60% of SLE patients suffer from scarring alopecia, affecting their quality of life. Herein is a case of a female adult with SLE and severe alopecia. While the patient received several systemic treatments, her alopecia was treated with intralesional triamcinolone and adjunct platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections for 4 months, and tacrolimus 0.1% ointment applied twice a day for 6 weeks. Four months into treatment, there was a note of increase in terminal and vellus hair, decreasing the affected body surface area from 2.5% to 1%. This case highlights that PRP is a viable option as an adjunct therapy for inflammatory alopecia and that collaboration among different specialties in the management of lupus and exploring novel treatment options for alopecia are important.