Sulfasalazine for Alopecia Areata

Alopecia areata is an unpredictable, autoimmune, hair loss disease affecting about 2% of the population. There are several existing treatments for alopecia areata but none of them offers stable and satisfactory results. A recently-conducted study with sulfasalazine shows that there is some hope of regrowing hair, even in patients with severe cases of alopecia areata. Sulfasalazine is an anti-inflammatory medication first used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. It has also been used to treat inflammatory bowel disease, seronegative arthropathies and psoriasis. During a period of three years, 26 patients with recalcitrant or severe alopecia areata (> 40% hair loss) were enrolled in an open-label, uncontrolled clinical trial. Efficacy evaluation was performed with clinical examination. 22 patients completed the treatment. Based on the response to sulfasalazine, patients were divided into three brackets: no hair regrowth (< 10% terminal hairs), partial hair regrowth (10%-90% terminal hairs), and complete hair regrowth (90%-100% terminal hairs). Overall, 68% (15 patients) responded to the therapy; 27% (six patients) achieved complete hair regrowth, and 41% (nine patients) had partial hair regrowth. Seven patients (32%) had no hair regrowth. 10 patients (45%) suffered a partial or complete relapse after finishing the treatment. Side effects following the treatment were observed in seven patients (32%). The study concluded that sulfasalazine could be considered a therapeutic alternative in the treatment of alopecia areata because of its low incidence of severe side effects, good tolerability and acceptable efficacy.

Source:

An uncontrolled, open label study of sulfasalazine in severe alopecia areata.

Aghaei S.

Department of Dermatology, School of Medicine, Jahrom University of Medical Sciences, Jahrom, Iran.

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