CASE REPORT article
Front. Med.
Sec. Dermatology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1605826
This article is part of the Research TopicImmune Microenvironment in hair follicle and sebaceous glands skin diseases: novel findings and future directionsView all articles
Omalizumab-associated hair loss: A case of eyebrow alopecia areata, literature review and FAERS database analysis
Provisionally accepted
- Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences and Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, Chengdu, China
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Hair loss is a rare adverse reaction associated with omalizumab, with limited literature reports. The incidence, underlying mechanisms, and clinical characteristics of omalizumab-associated hair loss have not been clarified. We report a 52-year-old female with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) who developed significant loss of eyebrows after 12 weeks of omalizumab treatment at 300mg per 4 weeks. The diagnosis of alopecia areata (AA) was confirmed through dermoscopic examination and clinical manifestation. While maintaining omalizumab treatment for CSU, topical 0.03% tacrolimus ointment was initiated for treatment of AA. Regrowth of eyebrows was observed at 28 weeks of omalizumab treatment. We then performed a literature review, analyzing 8 patients from 5 articles and 1 conference abstract, and concurrently analyzed data from 756 cases reported in the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) database of patients developing alopecia after omalizumab use. Our findings suggest that omalizumab may induce alopecia, particularly among females and individuals aged 18-60 years. However, establishing a direct cause-effect relationship between alopecia and the drug remains challenging. AA may be the more uncommon type of omalizumab-associated hair loss, though it may be a transient phenomenon. Even if the incidence of this adverse effect is low, it warrants the clinician's attention. Improved recognition of omalizumabassociated hair loss can optimize pretreatment preparation and patient counseling.
Keywords: Omalizumab, Hair loss, Alopecia, side effect, FAERS database
Received: 26 Apr 2025; Accepted: 13 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Lei, Yang, Li, Liu, Zhang and Zhou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Lixia Zhang, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences and Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, Chengdu, China
Xiyuan Zhou, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences and Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, Chengdu, China
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