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

Jung, Ji Hee; Kim, Jung Eun; Lew, Bark Lynn; Sim, Woo Young; Kang, Hoon

Abstract

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.