An eczema medication helped to repaint a girl's hair – could it help others?

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 10, 2018 (HealthDay News) – A 13-year-old girl who has had no hair on her scalp since the age of 2 has experienced significant regrowth since she took a medicine meant to relieve his eczema, doctors say.

Dr. Maryanne Makredes Senna of Massachusetts General Hospital and her colleagues in the Department of Dermatology were "somewhat astonished" at the regrowth of the girl's hair, as "other treatments that may contribute to hair loss do not help her." Did not do ".

The unnamed girl suffered from total alopecia – a total lack of scalp hair – as well as from eczema, and was given weekly injections of dupilumab, a drug (Dupixent brand name) to treat her eczema .

After six weeks of treatment, very fine hairs started to appear on the girl's scalp. After seven months of treatment, she presented a significant hair regrowth, according to the case study published Oct. 10 in JAMA Dermatology.

"As far as we know, this is the first report of hair regrowth due to dupilumab in a patient with any degree of alopecia areata," said Senna in a press release. a hospital.

Hair growth seems to be related to drugs. According to the doctors, when the girl had to stop taking dupilumab for two months because of the change in her insurance coverage, her newly repelled hair began to fall. But when she resumed treatment, hair regrowth resumed.

It is not known how the drug has this effect. But Senna explained that dupilumab targets an immune system pathway known to be overactive in eczema. Recent studies have suggested that a single pathway could induce autoimmune hair loss.

"At present, it's unclear whether dupilumab could induce hair growth in other patients with alopecia, but I guess it might be helpful in patients with Extended active eczema and active active alopecia, "said Senna, senior researcher of the Hair Academic Innovative Research Unit (HAIR) at Boston Hospital.

"We have submitted a proposal for a clinical trial using dupilumab in this patient population and we hope to be able to study it further in the near future," Senna said.

A dermatologist who was not related to the case said the results were intriguing, but preliminary.

"Additional research is needed to show if this drug or other organic products will grow hair," said Dr. Michele Green, who practices at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. "It is possible that this immune mechanism is key to treating patients with alopecia areata and unlocking the treatment of this mysterious autoimmune disease."

More information

The US National Institutes of Health have more information about total alopecia.