Survey of Awareness, Knowledge, Treatment and Behavior of Scalp and Hair Loss Disorders in Adults / 대한피부과학회지

BACKGROUND: Recently, the number of patients with scalp or hair loss disorder has rapidly been increasing and patient concerns are growing accordingly. With the flood of inadequate information available, many patients depend on treatments of which efficacy has not been proven. OBJECTIVE: To collect data on the awareness, knowledge, and behavior of scalp and hair loss disorders in Korean adults. METHODS: Between June 2015 and May 2016, a total of 1000 dermatologic outpatients, who visited St. Paul's Hospital and the Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong were asked to complete a questionnaire. RESULTS: Fifty-three percent of survey responders reported scalp-related symptoms and 44% of all responders indicated that they had alopecia. Most responders (90%) agreed that scalp and hair loss disorders should be treated, and more than 80% thought they should be treated by a dermatologist; although, they hesitated to visit dermatology clinics because of skepticism of treatment effectiveness or economic burden. It was observed that the patients rely heavily on scalp-related products such as shampoo, conditioners, and hair tonic, trusting their effects, which have not been verified to be effective. CONCLUSION: Although patients who have hair loss or scalp diseases need to be treated appropriately by confirmed diagnosis of dermatologists, they often depend on non-professional methods rather than visiting dermatologists. Therefore, dermatologists should concentrate their efforts on correcting the misunderstandings about scalp and hair loss disorders to reduce unnecessary social economic burden.

Clinical Burden of Primarily Misdiagnosed Tinea capitis: A Comparative Statistical Analysis / 대한의진균학회지

BACKGROUND: Tinea capitis has been recognized as the most commonly misdiagnosed scalp disease. Inappropriate medication and delayed intervention leads to a broad array of complications from prolongation of treatment to scarring of the scalp. The financial deficits and problems imparted on patients continue to be a clinical and social burden. OBJECTIVE: The clinical and financial aspects between the initially misdiagnosed group and the properly diagnosed group were analyzed, to provide the epidemiologic basis and to address improvements for misdiagnoses of tinea capitis. METHODS: A retrospective review of electronic and written chart was performed on all patients diagnosed of tinea capitis at Daegu Catholic University Medical Center (DCUMC) from January 2006 to June 2016. A total of 100 patients were included in the study and an initially misdiagnosed group and initially diagnosed group were evaluated. RESULTS: Significant differences between the groups were not observed in variables including age, sex and occupation. The highest diagnostic precision was observed in dermatologists (78.4%) by using standard microscopic (31.0%) and culture studies (13.0%). Misdiagnosis rate was highest in pediatrics (34.9%) and erroneous examination such as laboratory test (48.4%) and Gram stain (19.4%) were countered in the misdiagnosed group. Additional clinic visits, prescriptions and extra trips to clinics resulted financial disadvantage in the misdiagnosed group. CONCLUSION: The misdiagnosed tinea capitis was found to arise from unawareness of the disease that leads to inappropriate approach and medication prescription. The duration, complications and financial loss were reported to be higher in misdiagnosed group based on the study.