Loosing hair at an early age can cause emotional distress and lack of self-confidence. But now there is new hope for people suffering from alopecia universalis which is the most common and till now considered incurable cause of baldness. The hope comes in form of a young man who has miraculously grown a head full of hair after doctors at Yale University tried out a novel approach to alleviate his baldness. This also marks the first successful instance of a targeted success against this cumbersome and bothersome disease.
The treatment given to the 25 year old has not only bestowed head full of hair but has also spurred the growth of eyebrows, eyelashes, facial, armpit and other hair which he was totally devoid of at the time of starting the treatment. “The results are exactly what we hoped for," said Brett A. King, M.D., assistant professor of dermatology at Yale University School of Medicine and senior author of a paper reporting the results online June 18 in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. "This is a huge step forward in the treatment of patients with this condition. While it's one case, we anticipated the successful treatment of this man based on our current understanding of the disease and the drug. We believe the same results will be duplicated in other patients, and we plan to try."
The aforementioned patient was not only suffering from alopecia, his condition was further exacerbated by plaque psoriasis which causes appearance of red scales on the skin. The young man was referred to Yale Dermatology department was treatment not for alopecia but for psoriasis. Dr. King is of the opinion that both the diseases can be targeted using a FDA approved drug for arthritis called tofacitinib citrate. It is akin to killing two birds with a single stone. The drug has proven to alleviate psoriasis in humans and has yielded positive results in mice by reversing alopecia areata.
"There are no good options for long-term treatment of alopecia universalis," said King, a clinician interested in the treatment of rare but devastating skin diseases. "The best available science suggested this might work, and it has. This case highlights the interplay between advances in science and the treatment of disease," he said, "and it provides a compelling example of the ways in which an increasingly complex understanding of medicine, combined with ingenuity in treatment, benefits patients." He further added.
The aforementioned patient was not only suffering from alopecia, his condition was further exacerbated by plaque psoriasis which causes appearance of red scales on the skin. The young man was referred to Yale Dermatology department was treatment not for alopecia but for psoriasis. Dr. King is of the opinion that both the diseases can be targeted using a FDA approved drug for arthritis called tofacitinib citrate. It is akin to killing two birds with a single stone. The drug has proven to alleviate psoriasis in humans and has yielded positive results in mice by reversing alopecia areata.
"There are no good options for long-term treatment of alopecia universalis," said King, a clinician interested in the treatment of rare but devastating skin diseases. "The best available science suggested this might work, and it has. This case highlights the interplay between advances in science and the treatment of disease," he said, "and it provides a compelling example of the ways in which an increasingly complex understanding of medicine, combined with ingenuity in treatment, benefits patients." He further added.