The new study credits JAK inhibitors with ushering in a new era, making treatment of moderate-to-severe alopecia areata possible. She said that she feels blessed that the treatment worked for her. It was like I lost my identity because I was always the girl with pretty hair growing up."Īfter she received treatment with a JAK inhibitor at Johnson's practice, Martens was able to completely regrow her hair. "Most people think it's just hair, but it was exhausting because it became what everybody talked about. "It's pretty traumatizing," Martens said in the news release. Her immune system was causing her body to attack its own hair follicles. She was diagnosed with alopecia areata in 2017. Eventually, Martens lost all hair on her scalp, eyebrows and eyelashes.
ALOPECIA UNIVERSALIS TREATMENT 2011 PATCH
Martens began living with alopecia areata at 38, when she first noticed a bald patch about the size of a silver dollar on her scalp.
ALOPECIA UNIVERSALIS TREATMENT 2011 TRIAL
Medical conditions such as asthma, hay fever, eczema, thyroid disease, vitiligo and Down syndrome also increase alopecia areata risk.Ĭourtney Martens, a mother of two from Edmond, Okla., participated in a clinical trial at Johnson's practice in Fort Smith, Ark. It is also more common in those who have a close blood relative with the disease and in people who have been treated for cancer with a drug called nivolumab (Opdivo). In some cases, it spreads to the entire head or body. It involves sudden hair loss with affected patches that grow larger. The condition is more common in kids but can happen at any age. "The development of JAK inhibitors has given us another treatment to improve the lives of patients with alopecia areata," Johnson said in a news release from the American Academy of Dermatology.
She is an adjunct professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, in Little Rock, who was not involved with the study.
"Because alopecia areata is an inflammatory condition, a JAK inhibitor will essentially reduce the inflammation that is fueling the disease and bring your immune system back into balance," said dermatologist Dr. Brittany Craiglow of Yale University, was published in August in a supplement to the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
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