Knowing Your
Alopecia Areata Treatment Options

Sadly to speak, up till now there has yet a proven Alopecia Areata treatment that can permanently eradicate the condition. Being an elusive and erratic disease, there is currently no way to predict the outcome and effectiveness of any treatments.

Anyhow, there are many available treatment options for Alopecia A sufferers and the treatments are often combined together to increase effectiveness in battling the disease. Although the treatments do not offer a permanent cure, they are relatively successful for restricting AA in many sufferers. Find out more about the options available to you.

Know Your Chances

A virus infection can be countered with vaccines while antibiotics work great with bacteria and funguses but like many kinds of autoimmune disorders, Alopecia Areata is very hard to cure because the root of the problem is created by your own body instead of an external factor.

When the situation arises that your body is attacked by its own immune system, the very own defense mechanism that is supposed to protect your body, it often requires more than just medications or other forms of treatment to heal it. Most of the time, the only real way to turn off the disease is by your own body itself.

Although most autoimmune diseases are incurable, there are many medications and treatment methods that can use to negate the effects and control the disease. As Alopecia Areata is caused by immune cells accumulating at the hair follicles, treatments that suppress and subdue these cells will theoretically reverse the condition.

Therefore, if you are suffering from AA, you should need to know your chances and follow only the recommended treatments. There are indeed many bogus people trying to offer you a 'cure' which does not exist in the first place.

Currently, the success rates of the treatments vary by individual but here are some statistics for you

• Around 75% of people with patchy Alopecia Areata within the first year will respond better to treatments.
• People who don't respond to treatments after two years are highly unlikely to benefit from any further treatments.
• The longer and more serious Alopecia Areata persists, the slimmer the chances of treatments will be.

Anyhow, there is no clear way to foresee the outcome of the treatments at all because some people who do not respond to treatments at all can have their hair growing back the soon after while people who respond very well to treatments might find the disease reoccurring and regressing further.

Types of Treatments Available

There are many proven Alopecia Areata treatment choices and each have its own effectiveness as well as side effects. In most cases, your doctor will prescribe a combination of treatment methods to increase the success rate. Some of the common Alopecia Areata treatment options include

• Corticosteroids
• Minoxidil
• Anthralin
• Psoralen and Ultraviolet A radiation (PUVA)
• Topical Sensitizers

Let's take a deeper look at these treatments.

Corticosteroids

Corticosteroids are synthetic hormones that mimic the hormones released by the adrenal glands in your body. This hormone is responsible for regulating inflammation, controlling immune response and helping alleviate many illnesses and conditions. This form of Alopecia Areata treatment is quite effective but uncontrolled use of corticosteroids might lead to many unwanted side effects.

For treating Alopecia Areata, the most common kind of corticosteroids used are in topical form containing 0.05% - 0.2% of the active ingredient. It's mainly applied directly to the balding area. Success rate of almost 100% is reported in children while 33% of adults see hair regrowth.

Injecting the steroids directly below the epidermis is a more effective way to deliver the medication directly to the affected area which increases its effectiveness. Systematic injection or oral intake of corticosteroids can greatly increase the chances of hair regrowth but it's seldom used because high levels of corticosteroids in the body can lead to adverse side effects.

Topical Minoxidil

Minoxidil 5% is typically used for treating a wide range of hair loss particularly Male Pattern Baldness and Telogen Effluvium. The medication works by stimulating and 'overriding' the hair follicles to grow hair. It also helps to expand the blood vessels to allow more blood flow to the hair follicles.

In Alopecia Areata, Minoxidil is often prescribed for patients with non-extensive hair loss and also for those who noticed hair growth returning. The medication can help speed recovery and improve hair's density that was once crippled by the disease. A bad side of this treatment is that you will need to continuously use this treatment to keep the hair the medication 'forced' to grow and stopping it will cause the hairs to fall again.

Anthralin

Anthralin is a form of irritant that works by irritating your skin to induce a response. As an Alopecia Areata treatment, Anthralin seems to be a generally effective and feasible approach indeed. Usually applied topically in a cream form, the treatment comes in different doses 0.1% to 2% strength and is directly applied to the affected area. To prevent serious irritation to the skin, you will need to remove it after contact for more than 20-60 minutes.

Anthralin is widely used for other conditions like Psoriasis and receives a very high successful rate in subduing the condition. For Alopecia Areata, Anthralin has the capabilities to neutralize the inflammation causing immune cells by limiting its energy and preventing cell proliferation.

Another type of irritant known as Nitrogen mustard is also another alternative that shares it successes with Anthralin for treating AA. Doctors will usually prescribe either treatments for you which he or she seems fit.

Psoralen (P) and Ultraviolet A radiation (UVA)

Psoralen is a type of photosensitive agent extracted from plant species. When Psoralen is used together with Ultraviolet Light type A, it's commonly known as PUVA and the combined therapy is regularly used for treating a range of skin diseases like Psoriasis, eczema, atopic dermatitis and Vitiligo.

PUVA also finds its way as a potential Alopecia Areata treatment through its effects on the immune cells. Proper treatment with PUVA can result in programmed self death (apoptosis) of targeted lymphocytes, prevent immune cells proliferation and regulation of your body's immune response. By targeting the immune cells at the hair follicles, it can help stop the inflammation thus allowing the hair follicle to grow.

Although PUVA might be an easy Alopecia Areata treatment method, you should not use it without supervision because the PUVA is harmful if it's not used correctly. Higher risks of skin cancer and other UVA related diseases are reported with using the treatment.

Topical Sensitizers

Topical sensitizers are chemicals that when apply to the scalp, it can trigger an allergic reaction. Although this method might not make any sense to people, it's a very promising Alopecia Areata treatment and has been used for 20 years with positive results. The median success rates of 43% statistically show that using topical sensitizers are an effective way to stop Alopecia Areata.

There are mainly 2 commonly used topical sensitizers known as Diphenylcyclopropenone (DCP) and squaric acid dibutylester (SADBE). While the both of these chemicals might react differently, the mode of action is quite similar which is to create an allergic reaction on the scalp. The skin will usually react to the chemical by becoming red, swollen, itchy and might blister. This shows that the chemical is working therefore you can continue with the second application.

Following applications of a much weakened topical sensitizer will usually caused the applied area to develop an immune response and trigger minor scalp irritation. By continuously doing that, it's believed that the scalp irritation will cause the immune cells to move towards the affected area thus sparing the hair follicles from inflammation.

Where to Know More

Many of the above Alopecia Areata treatment methods require professional medical supervision and prescription therefore you should never try any of them without first consulting a medical specialist. Most doctors will recommend you a combination of treatments to increase the efficacy in the treatment so don't take matters to your own hands.

There are still many other forms of Alopecia Areata treatment options that you can try like Sulfasalazine and Oral cyclosporine. Some AA sufferers have seen success with alternative therapies like acupuncture and essential oils but most of these treatments have yet been proven.

If you would like to know more about these treatments and about the condition itself, there are many organizations in the states and other parts of the world that can provide you with the necessary information. These organizations also offer invaluable emotional support and education on how you can survive Alopecia Areata so don't be shy to contact them.

Find out where you can find the right Alopecia Areata support groups and organizations.