Facial care products use not linked to frontal fibrosing alopecia, Reports Study

Frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA) is a relatively newly described scarring alopecia known as a clinical variant of lichen planopilaris. Frontal fibrosing alopecia is characterized by slowly progressive scarring alopecia on the hairline and affects explicitly postmenopausal women.

Waroonphan Leecharoen and colleagues from the Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand conducted the study with the aim to investigate the possible association between the use of facial care products and frontal fibrosing alopecia in Asian females.

The authors included a total of 250 females, out of which 50 were frontal fibrosing alopecia patients, 100 patients had pattern hair loss [PHL] , and 100 normal controls were recruited and completed a questionnaire to obtain information approximately facial care products and various environmental factors.

The results showed that the use of moisturizer to be significantly higher in the frontal fibrosing alopecia group compared to normal controls (p < 0.001), and sunscreen use was significantly higher in the pattern hair loss group than in the control group (adjusted p < 0.001).

Furthermore, the subjects with frontal fibrosing alopecia or pattern hair loss reported significantly higher use of both sunscreen and moisturizer compared to normal controls (p < 0.001).

This study focused on Asian populations. The results revealed a high frequency of moisturizer and sunscreen use in both frontal fibrosing alopecia and pattern hair loss among Asian females.

Therefore, it was concluded that the use of facial care products appears not to be linked to the true disease mechanism of frontal fibrosing alopecia, but rather to appearance-related concerns of patients.

https://doi.org/10.1111/1346-8138.16063