If you’ve participated in a clinical trial, you may have heard of the Severity of Alopecia Tool (SALT), a method of assessing how severe an individual’s alopecia areata is. This scale assigns a score based on the amount of hair loss on the scalp. However, this score does not take into account the whole picture. As we in the alopecia community know, this disease can affect various hair-bearing areas of the body, as well as a person’s mental health.
This year, a team of clinical experts in the US developed a new scale that encompasses the key aspects of alopecia areata when determining severity. This scale is called the Alopecia Areata Scale or AA Scale.
The AA Scale still primarily takes into account scalp hair loss to determine severity, but also includes four secondary features which impact score:
- Psychosocial impact
- Involvement of eyebrows or eyelashes
- Response to treatment after 6 months
- Diffuse, rapid hair loss
The presence of at least one of these factors raises the severity level by one.
The Alopecia Areata scale is used in clinical trials to improve treatment options for alopecia areata and guides experts to better understand the wide-ranging impacts of the disease. This is a promising advancement as researchers continue to understand more about what matters to the alopecia community.
Read what dermatologist Dr. Brett King says about the AA Scale at concertpharma.com, or view the original publication here.
