Topical cetirizine 0.5 % lotion: A Potential Hair Growth Stimulant in Chemotherapy Related Alopecia

Topical Cetirizine and Its Role in Hair Loss from Targeted Chemotherapies.

Cetirizine is a well known and inexpensive antihistamine. It has been in medical use since the late 1980s. Recent studies have explored its use in topical formulations. Cetirizine is principally known as an H1 receptor antagonist. Studies have shown cetirizine causes a significant reduction in both the inflammatory cell infiltrate and PGD2 production.

Prior Studies of Cetirizine in Various Hair Loss Conditions

Cetirizine is increasingly studied in many types of hair loss.

1) Androgenetic Alopecia. In 2018, Rossi and colleagues from Rome evaluated the efficacy of topical 1 % cetirizine for treatment of androgenetic alopecia in 85 study participants (both male and female). 67 participants applied cetirizine 1% daily on the scalp, and 18 applied vehicle as controls. Interestingly, the cetirizine treatment group showed increased total and terminal hair density, and decreased vellus hair density after 6 months of use.

2) Lichen Planopilaris. In 2010, d’Ovidio and colleagues studied the use of cetirizine at high doses. Rather than using 5 mg to 10 mg daily that is commonly used over the counter, the authors studied the benefits of 30 mg/daily. Twenty-one patients with lichen planopilaris (LPP) were treated with cetirizine as well as their topical steroids. In 18 or 21 patients (85.7 %) there was a reduction in redness, scaling and a reduction in extractable anagen hairs by the pull test. The authors reported that one patient developed cardiac arrhythmia after 3 months of successful treatment and dropped out of the study.

Read Cetirizine for Use in LPP

A New Study of Topical Cetirizine 0.5 % lotion

A new study, again by Rossi’s group from Rome (the same authors of the 2018 study above), examined the benefits to 0.5 % topical cetirizine lotion in a patient with chemotherapy induced alopecia.

The patient was a 70 year old female patient who developed alopecia following the use of the CDK4/6 inhibitor known as Palbociclib. She started treatment with 2 mL of a 0.5 % lotion to the entire scalp. Within 3 weeks of using the topical cetirizine, she started to experience an improvement in her hair. Interestingly, she did not stop the Palbociclib at any time.

COMMENT

This is an interesting study and it caught my attention. It’s still preliminary and has not yet been replicated but it’s certainly interesting nevertheless. Clinical trials of topical cetirizine are underway so we’ll no doubt be hearing more about it in the near future.

Reference

Rossi A, Campo D, Fortuna MC, et al. A preliminary study on topical cetirizine in the therapeutic management of androgenetic alopecia. J Dermatolog Treat 2018; 29: 149–151.

Caro G et al. A new treatment of alopecia induced by palbociclib: Topical cetirizine. J Oncol Pharm Pract 2020 Jun 12;1078155220930334.