Audiological Abnormalities in Patients with Alopecia Areata

    September 2013 in “ Journal of The European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology ”
    Haydar Uçak, Erkan Soylu, Savaş Öztürk, Betül Demir, Demet Cicek, Ilker Erden, Abdulvahap Akyigit
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    TLDR People with alopecia areata may be more likely to have a certain type of hearing loss.
    In the 2013 study comparing 51 patients with Alopecia areata (AA) to 51 healthy controls, researchers found a significant occurrence of sensorineural hypoacusis, a type of hearing loss, in the AA group. Specifically, 28 AA patients (54.9%) had sensorineural hypoacusis, with 6 experiencing unilateral and 22 experiencing bilateral minimal hearing loss at high frequencies (4000-16000 Hz), while only 13 control subjects (25.4%) had hypoacusis. The study concluded that the autoimmune process targeting follicular melanocytes in AA might also affect melanocytes in the inner ear, indicating a potential link between sensorineural hearing loss and AA.
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