Meanwhile, Guttman-Yassky says that stress is "one of the most important factors in alopecia flare-ups or initiation."ĭr. Emma Guttman-Yassky, Director of the Laboratory of Inflammatory Skin Diseases at Mount Sinai explains, "Children with eczema have an increased risk to develop alopecia, and many children with alopecia have an allergic background." Was she pulling on her hair during playground frustrations? Was she losing hair because of stress? (She was, after all, getting a new baby sister in a few weeks.) Or was this a symptom of some disease?Īfter an appointment with our pediatrician and a referral to a dermatologist, it was official: Elle had moderate alopecia areata (AA), an autoimmune condition in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks hair follicles.ĭr. To top it off, her other eyebrow started thinning. The next day, I found a second while giving her a bath and then spotted a third and a fourth the next week. Soon after, my husband pointed out her first bald spot: a quarter-sized oval of smooth skin behind her ear. At first, I noticed that Elle's left brow seemed less bushy, but now I could see that it was also shorter, ending well before the outer corner of her eye, where it used to stretch beyond. I had to look back in my camera roll to confirm my suspicions: Yes, my 2-year-old's eyebrow was, indeed, thinning. Pending positive outcomes of future clinical trials and FDA approval, people with severe alopecia areata may soon have several new treatment options.Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. King is also involved in trials for two other JAK inhibitors manufactured by Pfizer and Concert Pharmaceuticals. In June 2022, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved baricitinib for the treatment of severe alopecia areata.Ĭlinical trials for other JAK inhibitors for alopecia treatment have also shown positive results. King was the principal investigator for the trials, which demonstrated that baricitinib helped many patients to regrow hair. One company, Eli Lilly, published the results of two Phase 3 clinical trials for a JAK inhibitor called baricitinib (marketed as Olumiant) in mid-2022 in The New England Journal of Medicine. In 2013, he recognized the potential of a class of medicines called Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors to treat alopecia areata and subsequently demonstrated their potential for the treatment of alopecia areata and other dermatologic diseases. This treatment is often uncomfortable for the patient.įor more severe cases of alopecia areata, Dr. The resulting inflammation seems to distort the immune system’s attack on the hair follicles. Steroids suppress the immune cells that are attacking hair follicles, so hair can regrow.Īnother approach is the topical application of an irritant such as squaric acid, which results in a rash similar to poison ivy. Traditional treatments for alopecia areata include steroid injections to the areas where the hair has been shed. In cases of relatively mild alopecia areata, meaning there is limited amounts of hair loss, hair may regrow without treatment, although the condition often reappears over a patient's lifetime.
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