Twenty-seven patients with severe alopecia areata were treated with da
psone. The results of a mean treatment duration of 10 +/- 0.5 months a
re reported, and compared with the results of long-term topical immuno
therapy obtained previously at the same institute. The efficacy of dap
sone proved to be markedly inferior to that of topical immunotherapy.
The percentage of patients showing regrowth of hair during treatment w
ith dapsone was comparable with the occurrence of spontaneous regrowth
of hair reported in the literature.