Bald Man Regrows Hair After Administration of Arthritis Drug

A 25-year-old man has regrown scalp and facial hair after administration of a rheumatoid arthritis drug by Yale scientists.

The name of the drug is tofacitinib citrate.

The man suffered from near total head and body hair loss due to a disease condition called alopecia universalis.

Alopecia universalis or alopecia areata universalis is a medical condition that causes rapid loss of hair all over the body, including eyebrows and eyelashes. It occurs in 1 out of 200,000 people.

It is an autoimmune disorder that can affect a person at any age.

The man underwent the trial for eight months during which period he took a drug dosage of 10mg per day for two months, followed by 15mg per day for the next three months.

By the end of the trial, the man had almost completely regrown hair on his scalp, face, including eyebrows and eyelashes, armpit and other areas of the body that he had not had for 7 years.

He did not report any adverse side effects from the medication as per the scientists.

Currently, there is no standard long-term treatment for alopecia universalis.

The success is a milestone achieved in the treatment of this rare baldness disease.

'There are no good options for long-term treatment of alopecia universalis,' said King, M.D., assistant professor of dermatology at Yale University School of Medicine. 'The best available science suggested this might work, and it has.'

According to Science World Report,tofacitinib citrate had been successfully used to treat psoriasis in people and alopecia in mice.

King added the drug functions by turning off the immune attack on hair follicles.

According to researchers, the drug works in some instances of psoriasis but not all.

The study featured in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

Source: Medindia